Single Red Roses
by Ashabadash
Summary: Follow Rose, Albus, Scorpious and their friends on the adventure you never thought would happen after the war. A Next Gen. Fic I love reviews and suggestions!
1. The Day That Started It All

**_I warn you now, i'm a horrible updater, but good news here is that I know where I want this all to head. I changed a couple little things that I'm sure some overly obsedded fan will call me out on but hey, poetic justice baby. PM me any ideas or suggestions, i love the support._**

**_Chapter One is dedicated to my number one fan: Elisa Clemo_**

Single Red Roses (A Next Generation Fiction) By: Ashley

**Chapter One: **The Day That Started It All

Rose Weasley barely heard her father as she looked around Platform 9 ¾ with excitement in her deep blue eyes. She couldn't believe that the day had finally come. The day she and her cousin Albus would be getting on the Hogwarts Express and heading to the most brilliant school she had ever read about. She fiddled with the end of her brand-new school robes and thanked godric that she and her family had made it to the train station alive, which was something she had to worry about when her father was the one driving them there.

"Make sure you beat him in every test, Rosie." Ron said, gestering over to a pale boy with equally pale blonde hair. She looked at her father questioningly as her mother playfully hit her father on his shoulder.

"Oh for heaven's sake Ron," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Where's James and Albus?" Rose asked, looking around for her cousins. They had been standing here not too long ago, and Albus had promised to sit with her on the train ride. Just then, James came running over to their group.

"Teddy's back there," he announced, but no one seemed surprised. Rose figured Teddy would see off Victorie for her last year of Hogwarts. It was horrible enough watching the two love struck teenagers during their year apart from each other last year. James though, had not caught onto the family memo. "Snogging _our _Victorie!" He announced, trying to catch a member of his family off guard.

"Rose, lets get your things on the train and get you settled," Rose's mother, Hermione, said, grabbing an end to Rose's trunk.

"I can do it Mum," Rose said. "Al put his stuff in a compartment already."

"I know he did dear, I just thought that you might…" he mother tried to reason.

"Hermione…" Rose's Uncle Harry said. "You're being over-protective."

"I am not," Hermione argued. She looked over to her husband. "Ron, tell Harry I'm not being over-protective." Ron's eyes grew wide and he looked back and forth between his best friend and his wife in massive confusion.

"I…er…um…" Ron stuttered, confused. "Ginny help!" Ginny Potter came over with Lily and Hugo in tow to save her brother.

"Now you guys have a great school year," she said, kissing each Albus, Rose, and James on the head.

"No such thing, Mum," James laughed as he said goodbye to everyone, jumping on the train to follow his friends.

"Here Rose, I'll help with your trunk," Al said, taking one side as Rose took the other and they climbed onto the train and into the compartment they had reserved in the back of the train. Once they were settled, Rose leaned out the window and waved to her little brother Hugo before remembering something vitally important.

"Daddy!" she called out to Ron, who turned on his heal and walked (well, almost ran) over to his daughter.

"Yea Rosie?" Ron asked. "Homesick already?" he said hopefully, but Rose shook her head.

"I was just wondering…" she said slowly, trying to word the question correctly. "Would you really disinherit me if I wasn't in Gryffindor?" Ron smiled widely and kissed Rose on the forehead.

"No Rosie, I wouldn't," he said, stepping back from the train as it began to move foreward. In the window next to her, Al was leaning out too, waving goodbye to their families until Christmas time and watching as Hugo and Lily walked miserably back to the passage between platforms 9 and 10.

As the train sped off, Ron's arm was still in the air, waving long after the train went out of sight. Harry came over knowingly and clapped Ron on the shoulder.

"You know," Harry said. "The best thing about having your best mate as your boss is that he gets it when you need a day off."

"I'm fine," Ron lied, his hand still in the air.

"Oh I know," Harry said, playing along. "But I'm sure Hermione is having a nervous break down right now. I know Ginny did when we sent James off 3 years ago."

"Yea…Yea, I should probably stay with Hermione for the day, make sure she is handeling sending Rose off well."

"Good plan mate," Harry agreed and watched his two best friends walk away with his nephew. "Softy," Harry smirked before running to catch up with his own wife.

* * *

"I won't be in Slytherin," Albus muttered, his arms crossed stubbornly across his chest.

"If you keep saying that, you're going to end up in Slytherin out of pure spite," Rose said, shutting her cousin up. Geez, she was nervous as it was. But now Albus just looked depressing slouched in his seat. She reached into her bag and grabbed two chocolate frogs, throwing one at Albus. "Here, cheer up Al," she said as he unwrapped the candy. "We're going to Hogwarts!"

"Yea, Hogwarts," Al said, Rose could tell in his voice that the boy was nervous. The sliding door to the compartment jerked open, startling Rose and Al. In the door way was James and his two best friends Michael and Danaë. Behind the three fourth years was a girl about Rose and Al's age. She had long blonde hair, a rounded face, and her wand tucked neatly behind her ear.

"Hey guys," James said cheerfully. "This is Professor Longbottom's daughter Terra," Terra stepped forward with a brave look on her face. "You all met when you were really little…" James stopped when he saw his little brother slouched on the seat. "What's up with him?" James asked Rose.

"Oh, Albus' idiot brother told him he might end up in Slytherin, so now the poor boy is going to be freaked out the entire trip to school." Rose said. Terra walked in more and sat with Al.

"Oh, don't worry Al; I'm sure whatever house you get sorted into you'll be perfectly happy." Al smiled at Terra.

"Thanks," he said. Over in the doorway Danaë slapped James in the back of the head.

"What the hell James!" she yelled.

"Hey!" He put his arms up to protect himself. "I'm being nice to my little brother! Back in my first year, Uncle George and Uncle Ron had me convinced that we had to fight a troll!"

"And then on you went to convince poor little Michael here of the same thing!"

"I'm not little!" Michael protested. "And at least I knew what a troll _was_," the three fourteen year olds walked off, all playfully bickering with each other. When they left, Terra looked between Al and Rose with wide eyes.

"Wait, do we have to fight a troll?" she asked. Rose nearly fell on the floor laughing.

* * *

"So do you have siblings Terra?" Al asked about 15 minutes later, eating yet another chocolate frog from Rose's bag.

"Yea," she said, flipping through the magizene in front of her. "I have a older brother and an older sister." Luckily, Rose brought a lot of chocolate because Terra took a piece as well. "Alice is the oldest, then Frankie, then me," she looked at the card that came with the frog, shrugged, and then chucked it into a pile the three had made on the floor.

Just then, the sliding door opened again, but this time, it wasn't James looking to pick on his little brother, or Victorie checking for the millionth time on her cousins. It wasn't Terra's brother Frankie, either; making sure his little sister wasn't being weird and was making friends. The door slid open and a boy was standing nervously in the doorway.

It was the boy from the platform, the one her dad had been talking about. He had dark gray eyes and bleach blonde hair that flew everywhere. He ran his hand through his hair, something that seemed like a nervous habit, and smiled.

"You mind?" he asked the group. "All the other compartments are full…" Rose looked at him for a minute before throwing what her father warned her out the window.

"No, come on in," she smiled, scooting closer to the window to make room. "Rose," she introduced herself. "This is my cousin Albus…"

"Al," Al corrected Rose, nodding a 'hello' in the boy's direction.

"And I'm Terra," Terra said.

"Scorpious," he said, looking at the others. "Go ahead, laugh, it's the stupidest name in the world," he smiled as Al nearly choked on his candy.

"You think your name is dumb?" Al said. Basically the first coherent sentence he said since getting on the train. "Did you forget mine already?" the four started laughing.

"When I get to school, I'm going right to my dad and thanking him for a normal name," Terra sighed, flipping another page in her magazine.

"Why would your dad be at the school?" Scorpious asked. Terra looked up with wide brown eyes.

"Oh, he's the Herbology teacher," she said. "And my mum is the editor in chief for the Quibbler," she held up the magazine she was reading.

"Really, cool, I love the Quibbler, it's fascinating," Scorpious said. "So you don't mind having your dad at school while you're there?"

"Not really, no," she shrugged. All of a sudden, the sliding door opened again.

"Go away James!" Rose and Al said, annoyed with the fourth year standing in the door way.

"Last time I swear," James said. "I'm just checking in on you."

"Like I'm going to get lost or something," Al rolled his eyes.

"And you haven't! See how well of a job I'm doing?" this made Terra and Scorpious laugh. James looked over and saw the pale boy with the blonde hair and the slate gray eyes. "I don't know you," he said, cocking his head to the side. He held out his hand. "I'm James."

"My insufferably annoying cousin," Rose put in.

"Scorpious," Scorpious said, taking James' hand and shaking it. "Scorpious Malfoy." James shook the boy's hand and looked at him curiously for a moment.

"Malfoy?" he asked. Scorpious nodded. James raised an eyebrow but smiled. "Nice to meet you," he said. "You lot better get dressed soon," James said, facing the others, "We're almost there." And then he left leaving four very excited first years to get ready.

* * *

"Firs' yers!" a rough voice called out as the train stopped. "Firs yers come with me!" Al, Rose, Terra, and Scorpious ran off the train toward where the other eleven year olds were gathering. When they ran into the man calling out for first years, Scorpious froze in mid-step, seeing probably the largest man he'd ever seen. "Whoa…" he whispered.

"Oh, that's Hagrid," Rose said when she heard the blonde boy's exclamation. "He's perfectly harmless," she said, bringing Scorpious with her to the front where Al and Terra were standing. "Hello Hagrid," Rose said smiling brightly.

"'ello Rosie," Hagrid said, a smile beaming from behind his salt-and-pepper beard. He was shocked at how fast these kids grew up. It had to of been just yesterday Hagrid was celebrating with the rest of the Potter's and Weasley's when Rose and Albus were born.

Hagrid directed the kids to the boats, ever steady after all their years of transporting first years across the Black Lake. Hagrid watched, like always, always getting a surprise at seeing the kids whose parents were guided across the lake years before by Hagrid.

He watched as Rose and Al got in a boat, soon followed by Terra Longbottom, and, to Hagrid's shock, Scorpious Malfoy. The boy was a spitting image of his father, and Hagrid had to blink a couple times to see if the son of Draco Malfoy willingly got into the same boat as the son of Harry Potter. He did.

Hagrid chuckled. Well, if anything, this would be an interesting few years.

"You're going to tip it Albus!" Rose screeched as Al looked over the side of the boat, into the water.

"We won't tip…" Al said, leaning more over the boat. It wobbled a bit and with another screech from Rose, Terra grabbed the back of Al's robes and pulled him into the boat, shaking her head and laughing.

"Let's not get into too much trouble before we even reach the school," Terra said, still giggling.

"Speaking of school," Scorpious said. "Look!" he pointed up and the other three followed his gaze and set their sights upon Hogwarts, glowing against the night sky.

"Whoa," they all said together. In the boats around them, other students were having the same reaction.

"Next stop Sorting," Terra said, a wide smile spread across her face.

-X-

Pronunciation Key: Danaë - (Da-neah)

REVIEW PLEASE! Chapter two is already done.

I'll do a writing-favor for the first reviewer!


	2. Welcome to the Wizarding World

"_Next stop Sorting," Terra said, a wide smile spread across her face. _

**Chapter Two: **Welcome to the Wizarding World

James, Michael, and Danaë were chatting at the Gryffindor table as the students flowed into the Great Hall. Danaë watched as James glanced over his shoulder every once and a while. "Looking for your brother James?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Uh…no, no…" James shook his head. "Just, looking around…What were we talking about?" he asked. Michael laughed.

"You two were discussing something about Quidditch…" he said. He looked at his plate, longing for food to magically appear. "I don't know, it confuses the hell out of me…" Just then a young, blonde Ravenclaw showed up. "He…Hey Victorie," Michael heard James snort beside him.

"Hey Michael," Victorie said. "Hey James, Danaë," she greeted the other two. "Did you see Rosie and Al on the train?" they nodded.

"So Miss Head-Girl…" James started with a smirk growing on his face.

"No, I'm not getting you out of detention James…" Victorie put her hands on her hips. "And make sure my little cousins know the same thing…" she said laughing as James deflated a little. "And just for your knowledge, I'm Ravenclaw's Quidditch captain this year," the seventh year smiled proudly. "And don't think we aren't working our asses off this year for the cup."

"Vicky, I love you like you're family…"

"I _am _family you twit," Vic laughed at James, but the boy didn't skip a beat.

"…but I have to tell you, Gryffindor is getting the cup this year," James smiled. Michael just shook his head and Danaë was trying to hold back from laughing too loud.

"We'll see about that cousin," Victorie said as she began to turn away.

"Say hi to Teddy for us!" James called after Victorie. The Ravenclaw blushed, smiled, and walked to her respective table. The fourth years then suddenly burst into laughter.

"Talk about competition," Danaë said as her laughter subsided. "But she is right James, we'll have to watch out for Ravenclaw this year, especially with Vic in charge, they'll be practicing everyday…"

"Yea…" James said thoughtfully. "Remind me to talk to 'Lissa bout that later." He said and then smiled. "'course, we could always send Michael to follow Vic and spy for us," he laughed. "_He…Hey Victorie,_" James mocked Michael. Michael hit James on the arm as he shook his head.

"It's not my fault mate," Michael said. "The girl is part Veela for Christ's sake!"

"She's an eighth Veela, that's no excuse, you'd have to be really desperate…"

"Oh look! The first years are here," Danaë interrupted, pointing to the back door. A crowd of eleven year olds, looking tall only in comparison to Professor Flitwick who was leading the way, walked cautiously toward the front of the hall. James caught Al's eye and winked at him, smiling as he remembered his first year and how he was sure they were never that small.

* * *

"Now, when I call your name," Professor Flitwick squeaked. "Come on up and place the hat on your head," he then unraveled a scroll of parchment that reached the floor and then rolled across the podium and down the stairs. He coughed before saying the first name: "Anderson, Mikael." A meek, brown-haired boy stepped forward walking up the stairs and closing his eyes as the hat got placed on his head. Everyone watched in silence for a few moments before the brim of the hat ripped open and shouted to the crowd of people: "GRYFFINDOR!" A loud round of cheers came from the Gryffindor table as Mikael took off the hat and grinned as he made his way to sit with his now-housemates.

And the sorting began.

Names were called and people were sorted one by one. "Burton, Jonathon" was sorted into Hufflepuff and "Collins, Leanne," was sorted into Ravenclaw. Al shifted uncomfortably as "Lockhaven, Trevor," was sorted into Slytherin after a particularly long while. Suddenly, Terra took a sharp intake of breath.

"What?" Al asked her, but the blonde girl shook her head. Soon enough, Professor spoke out the next name. "Longbottom, Terra," Terra took a deep breath and then smiled confidently as she walked up to the stool. She spotted her dad at the Staff table and winked at him, beaming before the brim of the hat covered her eyes.

"_Where to place you... Where to place you…_" the hat mumbled in Terra's head. She sat patiently, hoping that, whatever house she was sorted into, her dad would be happy with her. "_Well if that's what you want…_GRYFFINDOR!" Terra jumped up and handed the hat to Flitwick before running to join the other Gryffindors. As she passed Al, Rose, and Scorpius she whispered "good luck" before taking her seat.

Again, they waited. Rose silently cursed her father for having a last name toward the end of the alphabet. Next was Scorpius' turn. He walked slowly to the stool, staring at it so hard it could have burned a hole into it. He heard the whispers as his last name was announced to the hall. Was his fate already set?

"_A Malfoy eh?_" the hat asked as it covered Scorpius' head. "_I would say I knew exactly what to do with you but…_" The hat went silent, searching through Scorpius. "_I never thought I'd see the day…_GRYFFINDOR!" A mixture of gasps and applause erupted and Scorpius sighed with relief as he made his way to sit next to Terra. His hands were shaking. He wondered how his parents would react to this.

Al looked to his left and winked at his nervous cousin, squeezing her hand for reassurance. They waited more. "Oliver, Gage," joined the Gryffindor table. Next was "Oppious, Jessica."

"Move," Jessica said, pushing Al into Rose as she walked confidently to the sorting hat. She sat and looked at the crowd, seemingly basking in all the attention she was getting. The sorting hat hardly touched her sleek black hair before announcing "SLYTHERIN!"

"Figures," Al whispered to Rose as Jessica walked the same way to the Slytherin table. "Patterson, Ashley," was called and she too, though not as poised as Jessica, was sorted to Slytherin.

Flitwick fumbled with the scroll for a moment before reading the next name. "Potter, Albus," Al froze at the sound of his name. Rose gave him a nudge and Al tripped up the stairs and stumbled to the stool. "Not Slytherin," Al mumbled the second the hat touched his head. "Please, anything but Slytherin…"

"_Haven't I sorted you before? What do you mean 'not Slytherin'? This is a no-brainer…well if you're sure: _GRYFFINDOR!" Al smiled wider than ever as he was sorted into Gryffindor. "Good luck Rosie," Al said as he ran to sit with the other Gryffindors. He looked down the table and beamed at James, Michael, and Danaë. Then he turned and waited for Rose.

"Rowling, Joanne," Was called. A sweet-looking girl not too far from Rose walked up to the hat and Professor Flitwick set the hat on her head. "RAVENCLAW!" Joanne smiled in relief and ran past Rose, stumbling over her feet as she was welcomed to the Ravenclaw table. More and more of the students were sorted. Rose decided that the first thing she was doing at Hogwarts was going to the Owlery and writing her dad about considering changing their last name for when Hugo started at Hogwarts.

Finally, there was a handful of people left, and "Weasley, Rose," was called loudly. She took deep breaths. "Okay, don't panic, keep calm…" she whispered as she walked to the stool, her hands shaking. The hat covered her eyes and Rose felt a prickling on her neck as all eyes were on her. Suddenly the hat called out: "GRYFFINDOR!" Rose was so excited she ran to the table before taking the sorting hat off. A few people laughed as she quickly brought it back to Flitwick, blushing. When she sat down, she was next to Scorpius and another first year with dark red hair.

"Can you believe we all made it?" Rose asked breathlessly.

"It's fate," Scorpius said.

"It's a set up," Al said.

"It's the Snoblore Hornbacks!" Terra announced. Everyone around her looked at her curiously. "Sorry, channeled my mother there for a moment…" Everyone laughed.

* * *

"First years!" a fifth year girl called out as the Hall was dismissed for bed. "Gryffindor fifth years, over here!" she called out. The new Gryffindors crowed around her and another boy. "Great, you're all here quick," she said. "I'm Melissa Wood and this is Jamie Miller," she pointed to the boy beside her. "We're Gryffindor's fifth year prefects," she said proudly.

"We're going to show you how to get to the common room and give you the password, so pay attention and stay close," Jamie said. "Ask us questions if you need help, Melissa and I are happy to help out," Al looked at Terra and smiled; they looked nice enough.

Jamie and Melissa began to lead the way, up and up the flights of stairs. While waiting for one of the flights to change to where they wanted it, a portrait on the wall smiled at them. "Welcome to Hogwarts," the portrait said. A girl with short, black hair and teal streaks screamed and jumped back into Al.

"Oh, sorry…" she said. "Do ALL the pictures here move," Al nodded. "Bugger…"

"Are you muggle born?" Al asked.

"What?" the girl replied.

"Non-magical parentage," he added. She nodded and looked away. "Cool," Al held out his hand. "Albus Potter, call me Al though," he introduced himself. The girl smiled.

"Rebecca Caldwell, but call me Bek, everyone except my mum does," she shook Al's hand.

"Albus, Rebecca!" Jamie called, the stairs had finished changing. "Keep up now!" Al laughed and the two ran up the stairs.

The Gryffindor common room was on the 7th floor, all the way up to the top. "Is there some sort of short cut?" Mikael asked, bending over and placing his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

"'Fraid not," Jamie said, an apologetic look on his face, "But you'll get used to the stairs, honestly." Then the Prefect Boy turned to a portrait on the wall. "Hello Fat Lady," Jamie said, the rather short boy next to Scorpius snickered. The woman in the painting though, didn't seem perturbed.

"Mr. Miller how was your holiday," the painting asked politely. Al heard Bek mutter next to him. "_I'm never going to get used to this…_"

"Just fine," Jamie smiled. "Melissa, you know the password right?"

"Of _course_ you forgot already," Melissa laughed and stepped next to Jamie. "_Dragon Pox_," she said. The portrait swung forward, nearly hitting Rose, who jumped back into Al. "Welcome to the Gryffindor common room you lot," Melissa said, leading them inside. "Boys, Jamie will lead you to your dormitory. Girls, I'll take you to yours," she said before heading up the tower staircase. Sadly for the eight First Years, their dorms were at the very top of the stairwell.

"You've got to be kidding me," the pretty girl with the red-hair said once they reached the top. The boys and girls then separated boys to their left and girls to their right.

* * *

"Good night girls!" Melissa said after showing the four girls around their dormitory. "See you at breakfast." And then she left, leaving four girls to stand in the dormitory awkwardly. Bek looked around the room, finding her things already set up for her around the four-poster bed by the window.

"Sweet," she said, jumping onto her bed and putting her hands behind her head. Then she sat up quickly and held out her hand, a bold smile on her face. "I'm Bek," she said. "Rebecca Caldwell actually, but just Bek is fine," she smiled.

"Rose," Rose said automatically, her bed ended up being on the other side of the window. "Rose Weasley," she said. She tugged nervously on her auburn hair, walking over to her bed and sitting on her trunk in front of it.

"Wait, Weasley?" the other red-head said. "Are you related to Ginny Weasley?" Rose laughed.

"Yeah, she goes by Potter now though…" Rose said. "She's my auntie…" she was interrupted by a huge squeal.

"Oh my Godric!" she said. "Your aunt played on the Holyhead Harpies!" The girl was bouncing up and down. "I'm Lizzy Torrance." She said. "Closet Quidditch Fanatic."

Rose was laughing. Luckily she was used to people fawning over her various relatives. "I'll get you an autograph," she said.

"How are you a "closet Quidditch fanatic?" Terra asked.

"Oh, my mum hates it. Everything that has to do with it," Lizzy said. "So I had to hide my…obsession," Lizzy laughed.

"You don't really strike me as 'Quidditch obsessed…'" Terra started, but was interrupted.

"What's Quidditch?" Bek asked. The other three looked at each other before facing Bek. "Why do I feel like I'm about to regret that."

"Well, my dear," Terra sat next to Bek and slung her arm around the black and teal haired girl. "Let me start with my name is Terra Longbottom," the other girls were giggling. "And welcome to the wizarding world."

* * *

"Right, see you lot in the morning at breakfast," Jamie said, leaving the boys to their dormitory. Al recognized the first boy who was called up as Mikael, so he looked to the other boy that he didn't know.

So did the other two.

The smallest of the boys took a step back, widening his eyes. "Um…Ga…Gage, Gage Oliver," he said nervously.

"Where are you from?" Scorpius said, commenting on Gage's accent.

"California," Gage said. "My family moved here last year." The others nodded and found their respective beds. Scorpius plopped himself onto his bed, between the bathroom and the window. The other side of the window was Gage who was across from Al and Mikael. "So what's your name," Gage asked the blonde boy.

"Uh…" Scorpius stuttered. Al began to laugh.

"He's got a dumb name," Al said teasingly. Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

"You should talk," Scorpius said. "I'm Scorpius, that's Albus," he grinned.

"Cool," Mikael said sitting on his bed. "Mikael Anderson," he said. He was looking at his books that had been piled up on his night-side table curiously. Al watched as his roommate was studding his school things with a sort-of confused look on his face.

"You're muggle born, aren't you?" Al asked. Mikael jumped slightly.

"Huh?" he asked. "Muggle? Um, yes….yes I am." He nodded remembering reading about muggles back in a book in Diagon Ally. "That's okay, right?" he said.

"Yea, don't worry about it." Al said, noticing the boy's nervousness.

"Yea, hardly anyone has a problem with muggleborns these days," Scorpius added.

"But I'll be so far behind…" Mikael sighed, picking up his charms book and flipping through it. "I'm sure you three can already do half these spells."

"I doubt it," Gage said. "We know no more magic than you do." He grinned. "Don't worry 'bout it," Gage said. He walked over to Mikael and slung an arm around him. "In a week's time, you'll be knocking the sock off of us," Mikael laughed.

"Yea Mikael," Al added. "I'm sure you'll be great." Al went in his bag and grabbed a chocolate frog, handing it to Mikael who jumped back as the treat hopped out of his hands onto the side table.

"Welcome to the wizarding world," Scorpius laughed.

.

-X-

Pronunciation Key:

Mikael (Mik-kay-ll)

Snoblore Hornbacks (snow-blur horn-backs): Small dusts like creatures that help fate happen.

Thanks to my reviews! **Avanell **was the lucky first reviewer! Your prize is: a cameo in a chapter of Single Red Roses. Just PM me with any details you'd like *wink*

Okay, now that you've read, time to review! I hope to post at least one chapter every weekend.

Thanks!

Ace 3


	3. Keep Your Friends Close

"_Welcome to the wizarding world," Scorpius laughed._

**Chapter Three: **Keep Your Friends Close…

Gage snores. Loudly.

That was the first thing Scorpius Malfoy learned at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; his roommate could probably suck all the air out of the room within minutes. Scorpius sat up and looked over to Gage's bed. He considered suffocating the boy with his pillow, but they barely knew each other…

Al and Mikael were on the other side of the room, fast asleep in dreamland, and Score couldn't take the snoring anymore. So he rolled out of bed, put on his slippers, and walked down the stairs to the Common room.

To his surprise, Scorpius was not the only one who couldn't sleep tonight. "Hey Rose," he smiled at the red head. Rose looked up from the fire, her curly red hair tied back and sitting on the sofa cross-legged with a book in her lap. She smiled when she saw that the person interrupting her was Scorpius.

"Hey Scorpius," she said. "Couldn't sleep?" he shook his head and joined in the seat next to her. He sat with his back against the back rest and his feet dangled a mere inch from the ground.

"One of my roommates snores…" Scorpius said. Rose raised an eyebrow at him. "Gage, the American one…" Rose nodded. She glanced back at her book. "What are you reading."

"Book my mum gave me," Rose said. She closed it and handed it to Scorpius.

"Hogwarts: A History?" Scorpius laughed. Rose smacked his arm.

"Shut up, it's actually really fascinating. The first time I read it…"

"First time? How many times have you read this Rosie?" Scorpius asked, astonished. Rose blushed.

"Eight," she said. "But like I said, it's _really_ fascinating…" The two started to laugh loudly.

"Hey! Who's out there!" Someone called. The two suddenly stopped, snickering quietly until the door closed.

"Oh we're going to get in trouble before school even starts…" Rose laughed, hiding her face in her hands. Scorpius laughed along. Suddenly, the two were interrupted by a sharp tapping at the window. A hawk owl was perched on the window, rapping it's beak against the glass. Scorpius jumped up and opened the window for the owl, which flew in and flew around a bit before sitting itself by the fire and sticking it's leg out, it's eyes glaring darkly at Scorpius.

"It's for you," Rose said, raising her eyebrows at the owl. Scorpius cautiously walked to the owl and retrieved the letter from its leg. "Who is it from?"

"My parents," Scorpius said. He paled as he stared at the letter.

"Well open it," Rose urged, but Scorpius looked hesitant. "Score?" she asked when she noticed the little color he had drain from his face. "What's wrong?"

"It's probably best I don't open this," he said. His mind was racing. Did they know already? Was he in trouble? Would he be disowned? Scorpius wondered how his grandfather would react to his grandson being in Gryffindor, he already didn't like Scorpius all that much.

"Well, then let me," Rose said and snatched the letter from Scorpius. She ignored Scorpius' protests and opened the letter. Scorpius sat beside her on the couch and nervously watched as the red head read over the letter. "Hmmm…" she said. Scorpius watched her, but she had no other response, just 'hmmm.'

"Well…" He asked, he began to shake nervously.

"Read it," Rose said, no expression on her face. Scorpius took the letter and read over it carefully as he could with his hands shaking.

_Scorpius-_

_We have just learned of your recent sorting into Slytherin. This letter is sent to show how proud we are that you carry on the Malfoy title in Slytherin house. We expect nothing from the best from you, son. Work hard. Stay out of trouble. We wouldn't want to have to cover up anything embarrassing in your first year._

_Sincerely,_

_Your parents._

"Wow…" Scorpius said. He had to read it a second time through just to understand.

"Yea…" Rose looked at him. "How did they find out about your sorting already?"

"Rose, they think I'm in Slytherin," Scorpius said.

"I know, one issue at a time thanks." Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Someone here must have owled them immediately…"

"And told them I was in Slytherin…" Scorpius added.

"Why wouldn't they be happy with you being in Gryffindor?" Rose asked. To this, Scorpius could only laugh. "What?" Rose asked, feeling out of the loop on the joke.

"A Malfoy in Gryffindor?" Scorpius laughed. "Rose, you heard the gasps when I was sorted, the looks of shock that followed me to my seat…" He looked to the paper. "Everyone in my family has been in Slytherin since the dawn of time. I don't really care how my family came to the assumption that I'm in a different house, but trust me, their obliviousness is for the best."

"But your parents should support wherever you are…" Rose said, remembering her conversation with her father:

"_I was just wondering…" she said slowly, trying to word the question correctly. "Would you really disinherit me if I wasn't in Gryffindor?" Ron smiled widely and kissed Rose on the forehead._

"_No Rosie, I wouldn't," he said._

"Rose, that's just not how my family is…" Scorpius said. He took another look at the letter and then threw it into the fire. The two sat silently, watching the letter burn until it was only ash.

"I should go to bed…" Scorpius said. He wouldn't sleep, he knew that, between the letter and Gage's snoring, he wouldn't be getting sleep for a while.

"Me too," Rose said. They both stood and began to walk to their common room. When they reached their doors, Rose turned to Scorpius. "You going to be okay Score?" Rose asked.

"Yea, don't worry," Scorpius said. "Goodnight Rosie," he added.

"Goodnight Scorpius."

* * *

A crashing sound woke Rose up the next morning. She sat up straight and pulled back her bedside curtain quickly to find Bek already up and dressed, her hair which was teal and black only last night now completely black.

"Good morning Bek," Rose said amused.

"Sorry Rose," Bek apologized, looking into a mirror on her bedside table. He had her charms book in one hand and her wand in another. "Just trying to get ready, what do you think? red or gold?" Rose looked at the girl confused. "My hair, should I dye it red or gold?"

"Um, red?" Rose guessed. "Are you doing it with magic?" Rose asked, gesturing to the wand in Bek's hand. Bek nodded, putting the wand between her teeth so she could flip a page. "Do you know how to?" Rose asked skeptically.

"We're about to find that out, aren't we?" she said. Pointing the wand to a part of her hair, Bek muttered the spell. "_Colorifico Red_," Rose closed her eyes, not wanting to watch if her new friend accidentally blasted off an ear or something. Next thing Rose heard was "Wow, that was easy," and when she opened her eyes, Bek was twirling her wand in her hand, her hair still attached to her head, and the bottom layer of her short black hair was a scarlet red.

"Wow," Rose said, applauding Bek. "That was amazing." Bek laughed and took a bow, but then was side swiped when a pillow flew across the room and smacked into Bek, causing her to crash onto the floor.

"Someone's not a morning person," Bek said, pointing over to Lizzie's bed. "Oh Miss Elizabeth…" Bek skipped over to the other side of the room. "Time to get up sleepy, we start school today!" Bek threw the pillow onto Lizzie's bed and smiled at Rose.

"Best to wake Terra too," Rose advised, looking at her watch. They should be leaving soon since they didn't know how to get to the Great Hall from here.

"She already left…" Lizzie said sleepily from her bed. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. "She said something about going to see her dad? I don't know, it was early though…" and with that Lizzie tripped and stumbled her way to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Rose and Bek exchanged glances and shrugged, Bek turning to put her mess from her hair away and Rose turning to get dressed. Ten minutes later, Lizzie jumped out of the bathroom, a totally different person than who went into the bathroom.

"Okay, I'm up, let's go," she said excitedly. Bek and Rose looked at her with raised eyebrows. "What?""

"Nothing," the others agreed and after quickly finishing getting ready, they went down to find their way to the Great Hall.

* * *

Lizzie, Rose, and Bek ended up running into Al and Gage halfway down the stair case, fighting with a door. Rose rolled her eyes at her cousin and walked over, tapping him in the shoulder. "What are you doing Albus?" she asked.

"Gage and I could have SWORN this door opened…" Al said, tugging at the door again. This time, when he pulled, the doorknob disappeared and Al fell back into Gage and the two toppled to the ground. The girls laughed as Al and Gage stood up and brushed off their robes, both red in the face.

"Nice dude," Gage said. He ran a hand over his short brown-spiked hair and smiled.

"Dude?" Lizzie commented.

"I'm from California," Gage laughed. The others nodded and they began the long decent down the stairs.

"There you all are!" They heard Terra call from the bottom of the stairs, looking rather…different. She was dressed in her Gryffindor colored Hogwarts robes, yes, but they had a sort of…flair that was soon to be known as so significantly Terra. She had a flower in her hair behind her ear and bright, neon orange sneakers on her feat. He blonde hair was braided the stem of the flower wove through with the braid.

"Hi Terra!" Rose said. Al and Gage looked like they were trying to hold back their laughter, but Bek spoke up before the boys could say anything.

"Wow," was all she could say. Terra just smiled sweetly, not really caring what other people thought about her.

"Come on, I'm starving," Scorpius and Mikael were a couple steps behind Terra. The eight Gryffindors had all reached the door way when they heard someone behind them.

"Move," a rude voice came from behind them. The girl who had said the same thing to Al, Scorpius, and Rose last night was walking through. She pushed Gage and Bek out of the way and made her way past most of the Gryffindors without even glancing at them.

Until she saw Terra.

"Oh my Godric, _WHAT_ are you wearing?" She asked Terra. "You look hideous!" She and the other two behind her, a boy and a girl both sorted last night as well, laughed loudly.

"Leave her alone," Scorpius said, he was standing behind the three Slytherins. They stopped laughing abruptly and the main girl turned on her heals and raised an eyebrow at the pale boy.

"Um, excuse me," she said, walking up to Scorpius. She was a little less than eye level with him, but that didn't stop her. "But do you know who I am?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll let us know real soon," Scorpius said. He already didn't like this girl.

"_I_ am Jessika Oppious, of the Dufftown Oppious's." She said, almost shocked that Scorpius had never met her. Scorpius new the Oppious family though; his grandfather referred to them as the "newer" money. They were always trying to find ways to get connections with the "older" money, like the Malfoy's. But the Oppious's were also known for their…high interest in the dark arts. "This is Ashley Patterson," Jessika pointed to the girl behind her, a sort of punked-out, gothed up version of Bek was the first thing that came to Scorpius' mind, mostly because of the purple streaks in her elaborate hair do. Patterson was not a name Scorpius had heard of, from neither his father, who looked into families with money, nor his grandfather, who was interested in dark arts families. Ashley just smirked at Scorpius. "And this is Trevor Lockhaven," another name Scorpius didn't recognize. Trevor and Ashley must be following Jessica, looking for some scrap of wealth that they could cling onto.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius smirked at Jessika. Just then, her whole demeanor changed. Jessika went from some glaring, I'm better than you twit, to a wide smile and flipping her hair over her shoulder. She took Scorpius' hand like he had held it out to shake it.

"Malfoy, really?" she asked, acting sweet. "Well it's really great to meet you, Scorpius did you say? Great name, so…original…" She dropped his hand. Scorpius rolled his eyes, he was sick of this act.

"Don't touch me Oppious," Scorpius dead panned. Jessika's eyebrow's shot up again and she dropped his hand, going from a wide smile to a scowl.

"Well if _that's_ how it's going to be…" And she turned on her heals and walked into the Great Hall, followed closely by Ashley and Trevor.

The eight stood silently, looking between one another with a combination of confusion and amusement. Finally, Mikael spoke up.

"She's a nut…" he said. "A genuine nut."

"I have a horrible feeling we're going to have to worry about that one…" Rose added.

"Me too," Scorpius nodded.

.

-X-

Pronunciation Key:

_Colorifico _(co-lar-rif-ik-oh) –Spell to change the color of an immanent object i.e.: Bek's hair

Jessika Oppious (Oh-pie-uses) I spelt her name with a C in the last chapter but I really wanted it with a K so there you have it.

Thank you all so much for reviewing! It makes me SO happy.

I'm sick now, I'm going to take a nap, maybe some inspiration will hit me.

Love, Ashley (not the lackie, the writer :)


	4. Caught in Class

**Author's Note**: We're jumping ahead a little bit, but not much. It's now around Halloween time. I want my readers (if I have any left, I greatly apologize for my inability to update as promised) to get to know my characters better. And that's usually what first year is for, right? So that's what the next few chapters will be about.

**PS:** Avanell, I didn't forget about you, you have a special folder in my Single Red Roses section of my computer.

* * *

**Chapter Four: **Caught in Class

"Hey Scorpius, did you do the Potions homework?" Al asked as he entered the common room with Gage. "We haven't the slightest clue how to start it."

"Or end it," Gage added. "Or anything else in between really." Gage and Al laughed. Scorpius looked up at them from over a Quidditch magazine.

"No, I was going to do it later." Scorpius said. Of course, for him, later meant during lunch before Potions the day it's due. "Bet Mikael did it." Scorpius said. "Or the girls. You know Rose."

"Yea, like Rose would let us copy," Al laughed. "She'd just give us a stern lecture on how copying only hurts us…" Al shook his head. "She's so much like my Aunt Hermione, it's scary." The boys laughed.

"Guess we'll just have to do it ourselves, huh Gage?" Al nudged the brown haired boy. Gage frowned and nodded, and the boys bade goodbye to Scorpius to head up to their dormitory.

"Okay, this'll be easy, half a parchment on the good uses of Bezoars…" Al said as he grabbed his text book. "How bout you read the chapter and I'll take notes?" Al said, tossing his book to Gage. The American boy looked at the text book skeptically and frowned.

"Um, how bout you read and I write notes?" Gage said nervously, tossing the book back to Al. Al looked at his friend curiously but shrugged.

"Sure what ever…" Al said and they settled on the floor with their parchments. Five minutes into their homework though, there was a knock at the door.

"It's James," said the voice behind the door before he walked in. "Wow Albus, actually doing your homework?" James pretended to tear up. "I'm so proud…" Al reached onto his bed and threw a pillow at his brother.

"What do you want James?" Al asked.

"Just to talk." James turned to Gage. "Mind if I borrow Ally for a moment, we won't be long." Gage looked at Al and shrugged. "Thanks Gage." James said.

"Here, there's just a paragraph left, why don't you finish it up? I'll be back in a minute." Al said before following James out of the dormitory. Gage frowned at the book and pulled it toward him. Al had left the page open.

"I can't do this…" Gage grumbled, slamming the book shut. Maybe the last paragraph wasn't important, just meaningless words. Gage set his notes on top of the book. He hoped Al would be able to read them; it was all chicken scratch to anyone else who tried to read it. He started and finished the half a page by the time Al got back.

"You're done?" Al said. "Wow I must have be gone longer than I thought, sorry bout that mate," Al said.

"No worries," Gage said. "Um, here's your book and my notes," Gage handed the two to Al. "I'm going for a walk, see you at dinner." Al nodded and Gage left, still feeling slightly disgruntled with the stupid Potion's book.

* * *

The next day was Potions class with the Slytherins. Gage and Mikael sat at a table across from Scorpius and Al. Professor Slughorn was dictating the assignment for the day.

"All the information you'll need is on page 32 of your books," Slughorn said. "Now, begin!" The students scrambled for ingredients and supplies. Gage went to the cabinet and grabbed the pig's gallbladder jar, struggling to open it. When he did, the jar slipped and the gallbladder liquid slopped onto Ashley Patterson's shoes.

"Oh my Godric!" Ashley yelled.

"I'm Sorry," Gage said.

"Not to worry children," Slughorn came over and magicked the liquid away. "There you go Ms. Patterson, all better." He then turned to Gage. "Do you best to be careful Mr. Oliver?"

"Yes sir," they said and went back to their perspective spots. Gage saw Ashley whisper to Jessika and both girls glared at him. Gage sighed and opened his book, knowing that Oppious and Patterson would try some way to get back at him later on.

Gage watched Mikael study his book quietly before pulling out his knife and cutting the gallbladder in halves. Gage did the same. Then Mikael poured the liquid from said gallbladder into his cauldron and stirred it three times counterclockwise, 4 times clockwise. Gage did the same. Then Mikael dropped in 2 mandrake leaves and the potion turned purple. Gage did the same, and his potion also turned purple. The class went on like this for a good 15 minutes before Slughorn spoke.

"Yes Ms. Oppious," he asked.

"Professor, Gage Oliver over there is copying Mikael Anderson," Jessika pointed promptly to the two boys. Mikael looked at Gage with a raised eyebrow, but Gage just shrugged.

"I don't know what she's talking about professor…" Gage said, his skin getting warmer. "I just looked to make sure I was stirring correctly. I trust Mikael's judgment…" Gage could feel all eyes on him and he blushed deeper.

"Oh, I see dear boy," Slughorn said. He walked over behind Mikael and Gage and looked at each of their potions. "You two are doing quite well so far…" He said. "Tell me, Mr. Oliver…" Gage gulped. "What's the next step you were going to do, not that the potion has come to a boil?" Gage frowned and looked around the classroom.

"Um…" he stuttered. His eye caught Terra's and she was holding a mint leaf in her hand. Slowly, she ground it and put it in her cauldron. "Grind the mint and add it…" Gage said smiling up at the Potions Master.

"Very good, and after that?" Slughorn asked. Gage looked at Terra again. "Without Ms. Longbottom's assistance this time Gage." Gage nodded and looked at his book. Come on Gage, find mint. It's a four letter word, mint, one of the easy ones…

He couldn't find it. "I don't know sir," Gage looked at his shoes. He could hear Ashley and Jessika snickering quietly at their table.

"Why not read your own instructions Mr. Oliver?" Slughorn asked.

"I can't sir…" Gage said even quieter than before.

"Excuse me m'boy, but these ears are hard of hearing these days." Slughorn leaned it. "Speak up?"

"I can't read the instructions sir." Gage said, his face bright red. He wondered what would happen if he just dunked his head in his cauldron right now.

"Well, why not? They are in English are they not?"

"They are sir," Gage said.

"Then I ask again, why can't you read the instructions?"

"I can't read sir."

"Yes, I understand that you can't read the instructions, but why not…" Realization dawned on the professor. "Oh."

"Are you serious!" Jessika spoke up loudly so the class could hear. "Gage Oliver can't read?" the Slytherins in the room began to laugh.

"Stop laughing." Gage frowned, his eyes stuck on his shoes. He grabbed his book, his quill, and his wand and ran out the door, the Slytherins still laughing.

"Shut it!" Lizzy yelled, pointing her wand at Jessika.

"Ms. Torrance! We do not raise our wand in this classroom!" Slughorn said. "Five points from Gryffindor. And Ms. Oppious," Slughorn turned on Jessika, who was still giggling with the others. "Minus 10 points."

"What, why?" She stopped laughing.

"Because no one likes a tattle tale."

* * *

The Gryffindor first years split up in search of Gage after Potions that afternoon. Mikael and Lizzy headed toward the Common room while Scorpius, Rose, and Al headed toward the great hall. Bek said she'd check the library and empty classrooms. That left Terra to check the grounds.

She found him under a tree by the lake, skipping rocks with his wand. Terra watched her friend for a minute before approaching. "Hey Gaget," she said. Gage looked up at the nick name and Terra could see that he had been crying. "Can I sit?" Gage shrugged and Terra took a seat next to him. They sat quietly for a while before Terra spoke up.

"Why can't you read Gage?" Terra asked.

"I'm dyslexic," Gage said. "Words don't look right to me. There's ways to learn how to read, but no one taught me." He skipped another rock. "My brother and sister who are older than me were in school. My dad is always at work, and by the time I figured out why I couldn't read…my little sisters were born and my mom was busy with them. So I just…got forgotten I guess." Terra looked at Gage with a dropped Jaw.

"Gage, I'm sorry…" Terra said. "How have you been getting by this year so far?"

"I find ways, just like I did in elementary school." Gage shrugged. Terra watched him skip a few more rocks before jumping up. "Gage, I have a proposition that I'm not letting you refuse."

"So a demand then?" Gage asked. "What is it Terra?"

"I'm going to teach you to read." Gage laughed. "What?" Terra asked.

"It's not something you can fix, Ter." Gage said.

"Its something you work through." Terra added. "And I'm going to help you. Every day, we'll read." She helped Gage up and grabbed his hands. "I Terra Lynn Longbottom promise to help you, Gage Vincent Oliver…"

"How do you know my middle name?" Gage asked, but Terra shushed him.

"In his reading abilities for the rest of time." Terra said, nodding and pleased with herself.

"Or until I can read enough to wipe that smirk off of Ashley and Jessika's faces." Gage said.

"That too!" Terra said. "Come on, let's get started!" And she grabbed his hand and dragged him to the castle.

* * *

**Author's Note:** So that's the little introductory to Gage. Poor kid, I know someone like him. Good thing he has Terra, she won't give up.

For people who asked, yes, Terra is Neville and Luna's child. I started this before I found out the JK Rowling tree thingy… and I love how I can incorporate a little Luna and a little Neville into her and have her be her own person.

Okay, until chapter 5!


	5. Of Early Mornings and Sleeping In

**Chapter Five:** Of Early Mornings and Sleeping In

James walked down the stairs from his dorm dressed in his Quidditch Beater uniform. Leave it to Melissa to schedule a practice session at 7 o'clock in the morning. Danaë, his fellow beater, had told him to wait for her that morning and they'd walk down together. He stood in the common room, leaning against the door frame and almost falling asleep again. It was only a few minutes before someone was poking his face.

"James," Danaë said, poking James. He woke up and looked at Danaë's dark brown almond eyes out of one of his own chocolate ones.

"Five more minutes," James groaned. Danaë rolled her eyes and poked James again. "Danaë…" James whined.

"I swear you're five years old…" Danaë said, "Now wake up before I whack you over the head with my beater's bat." James, knowing that his friend would do just that, woke with a start and held his hands up.

"I'm awake," he said, making Danaë laugh.

"Come on Potter," Danaë rolled her eyes. They walked through the common room but when they passed the couch, they both paused and looked over the edge.

"James, why is Michael asleep on the couch?" Danaë asked. James shrugged. "How do you not know, he's your dorm mate!" Danaë's voice got higher and Michael turned, mumbling slightly.

"Oh, don't wake him Dan…" James said. "He doesn't have to be anywhere this morning." James checked his watch. "Course, we do… Mel's going to kill us, we're late again."

"Don't worry, we aren't the only ones," Danaë said. "Arnold is still fast asleep; you can hear him from here." They laughed and headed for the door.

"Yea, but will our Capitan be angry with him? No. Because he's the bloody Seeker!" James threw his hands up. Danaë laughed and threw her arm over James' shoulder.

"Come on James, you poor unappreciated human being…" she teased.

* * *

Later on in the morning, when it was a more agreeable time to wake up and start the day. Mikael made his way down the stairs and settled in the big comfy arm chair. In his hands was his History of Magic book. He'd read it through a dozen times, but Mikael liked to study, and you could always learn something from reading it again.

He looked up and noticed Al's brother's friend Michael sleeping on the couch. Mikael didn't bother him though, letting him sleep soundly as he himself opened his book.

"What are you doing Mickey?" Mikael looked up and saw Lizzy and Bek come down stairs. Bek was sporting a new color in her hair: Purple.

"Aw, guys don't call me Mickey…" Mikael shook his head at them. "Where are you two off to?" Mikael asked, hiding his book to the side so the girls wouldn't see.

"Heading to the hall for breakfast, than the library," Lizzy said. Bek held up her charms and defense books.

"I decided I should probably get started on those essays due tomorrow…" Bek shrugged. "Lizzy's been kind enough to offer to help me out." Bek grinned.

"Which is good, being that we had three weeks to write those essays," Mikael smirked at Bek, who rolled her eyes.

"Whatever smarty-pants," Bek said and the girls began to head out. "And don't think we didn't' see you hiding that History book Mr. Anderson." The girls giggled and walked through the common room. Mikael rolled his eyes and picked up his book again, and continued to read.

* * *

Scorpius, Gage, and Al were eating breakfast in the Great Hall. They had just waved goodbye to Lizzy and Bek, but boys being boys, they weren't close to being done yet. Across the room, Scorpius saw Ashley, Jessika, and Trevor hunched close together and talking about something. Well, Ashley and Jessika were; Trevor wasn't one to talk much. As they talked, an older boy who had the same dark tan skin as Jessika came over and sat across from them, blocking Scorpius' view.

"Who do you think he is?" Al asked, nodding his head toward the boy talking to the Slytherins. Gage looked and shrugged, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. Just then Victorie came walking in and Gage blushed and hid his head on the table.

"Way to go Gage," Scorpius snickered.

"Hey Vic," Al said, waving at his cousin.

"Hey Al, Scorpius…" She looked down at Gage who was hiding. "Don't worry sweetie, you'll get used to it," She teased, patting Gage on the head. "How're you doing?"

"Good," Al answered. "Hey, could you tell us who he is?" Al asked pointing over to the person in question. Vic looked over and frowned.

"Oh, that's Oskar, Oskar Oppious," Vic said. "He's a 5th year."

"So he's Jessika's brother then?" Scorpius asked. Victorie nodded.

"Yea, he and James and their friends are basically enemies here at Hogwarts. I wouldn't bring Oskar up around James if I were you Albus." Al nodded.

"Okay, thanks Victorie," She nodded and began to walk off. "Hey, have you heard from Teddy?" Al called after her. Vic looked at Al with a raised eyebrow but she blushed.

"Yea, he says hi," Vic said, shaking her head and then continuing to the Ravenclaw table.

As Victorie left, so did Oskar Oppious, only in the opposite direction. Gage watched as Jessika reached to put something in her pocket. Then the three of them got up, laughing and heading out of the hall.

"What do you think…?" Gage started.

"Dunno," Al said. "But I'm having a feeling that I won't be getting along much with either of the Oppious siblings. What do you think Score?"

"Yea, me neither." Scorpius agreed.

* * *

Terra padded up the stairs, covered in mud. She had spent the morning with her brother Frankie, and both were helping their father in the greenhouses since dawn. She looked to her left where her 6th year Hufflepuff brother, who looked exactly like their father, was trying to get some of the mud out of his shaggy brown hair.

"It's a hopeless case Frank," Terra said. They passed by the library and she saw Bek and Lizzy studying inside. "I'll see you later," Terra said, waving to her brother before running into the library.

"Terra…what happened?" Lizzy asked, looking at her friend in shock.

"Nothing, I was just helping my dad is all," Terra said. "Finally getting that essay for Professor Macadam done?" Terra asked Bek, pointing toward her Defense Against the Dark Arts book.

"Don't give me a speech Terra, Rose was already here," Bek shook her head. "I hate homework…"

"I wasn't going to lecture you, I just asked." Terra said. Just then the girls saw their Slytherin "buddies" walk in and take a seat two tables over. They looked over and Terra, Lizzy, and Bek and laughed quietly. "What are they doing here; they don't even have their books with them." Terra asked. Lizzy was about to speak when Madam Pince came over to their table.

"WHAT IS ALL OVER YOU MISS LONGBOTTOM!" she yelled at Terra. Without waiting for an answer though, she shooed Terra out of the Library and up two flights of stairs before she returned to her precious books.

* * *

Nice and clean, Terra went to her dresser by her bed in the dormitory and pulled out a copy of _The Quibbler_. She walked downstairs and saw Mikael reading his History book. Rose was there as well, writing a letter. On the couch, James's friend Michael was still asleep. He had been lying there when Terra left at the crack of dawn this morning. "Hey guys," Terra said. She looked at Michael on the couch. "Has anyone checked to see if he's even alive?"

"He talks every once and a while," Rose said with a laugh. "Besides, it's only 10 in the morning; he should be waking up soon enough." The others nodded. Just then, Gage, Al, and Scorpius walked into the common room. "Hey boys," Rose said.

"Hey," They replied walking over to the others. James looked at Michael on the couch. "What's wrong with him?"

"Just sleeping," Terra said. "Where've you three been?"

"We watched the Quidditch practice for a little bit," Scorpius said. "They're on their way up." As if on cue, the portrait hole opened and the Gryffindor Quidditch team came in.

"Good practice today everybody," Melissa said cheerfully. She seemed to be the only one who was completely awake though. The rest of the team groaned and yawned and made their way to their perspective dorms. James and Danaë though, went to the couch.

"How is he still asleep?" James asked. "Lucky bastard…"

"Hey you guys," Danaë smiled, interrupting James' grumbling. "Having a good Saturday morning?" They mumbled answers.

"How was practice?" Rose asked. Danaë and James shrugged.

"We spent the first part trying to stay awake through Mel's pep talk," said Danaë.

"Then bloody Arnold, king of seekers finally showed so we could practice…" James said, and Danaë nudged him to lower his voice.

"And then it started to rain," Danaë continued, "All in all, not our worst practice." She added, making the first years laugh.

Then the portrait hold slammed open. "Lizzy, slow down!" They heard Bek call out.

Lizzy stormed into the common room and threw her books on the table in front of the couch. Behind her, Bek caught up, panting slightly. Mikael figured Bek had chased Lizzy all the way from the library.

"Lizzy, what's wrong?" Al asked. She looked at everyone and then gestured toward the books.

"That…that…" Lizzy searched for words. "Wretched excuse for a human being and her cronies! That's what's wrong!" She screamed, her pale face reddening to the point where it matched her hair. Everyone looked toward the books, where giant holes resided in the middle, burning out from the core. "She "spilled" potion all over them! Where am I going to get new ones in time?" Lizzy screamed. "I swear that girl is on my last nerve!" She was fuming; Mikael sat back in his chair and swore he could see steam coming out of her ears. He made a mental note to NEVER anger Elizabeth Torrance.

"Calm down Lizzy," Al said. "We'll just write home to your mum, she'll buy you new books and send them back…"

"That won't work, my mother's a muggle," Lizzy said. "My dad was the wizard, but he left when I was young." Her face that was once red with anger now flushed with embarrassment.

"Hold on," Danaë said, running upstairs. Two moments later, she came back down carrying a handful of books. "They were my first year books; keep 'em," she said, handing them to Lizzy. "Hope you don't mind second hand…"

"Oh thank you," Lizzy said, hugging Danaë. "The thing with the books isn't what made me so angry though," Lizzy admitted. "It's what they called Bek that bothered me."

"Really, Lizzy, get over it, I don't even know what it means." Bek sighed. She jumped to take a seat on the couch, but Scorpius and Al stopped her quickly. "Wow, he's still here…" she sidetracked.

"Exactly why it was even more wrong to say!" Lizzy defended.

"What did Oppious call her?" Al asked. Lizzy looked over at Bek, then Mikael, then Al with a sort of somber look on her face.

"A Mudblood," most people gasped. Bek didn't, neither did Scorpius.

"So is anyone going to tell me what this muddy butt is or what?" Bek asked impatiently.

"Mudblood," Scorpius corrected her.

"Whatever. Score you didn't gasp, so tell me." Scorpius' face flushed at the comment.

"It's not that it's not bad, I'm just used to hearing it is all," Scorpius said. "My grandfather likes to say it at least a hundred times when he's over for dinner."

"But what does it MEAN?" Bek asked, slipping to the couch.

"It means dirty-blood," someone said. "It's a foul, awful, horrible insult for anyone with muggle ancestry." Everyone looked down on the couch to see that Michael had finally woken up. "If you hear anyone call you that Bek, you should probably jinx their teeth out."

"Morning mate," James said, looking at Michael who was trying to sit up.

"Morning still?" Michael asked. "Then I'm going back to sleep, happy Saturday," and he rolled on his side, knocking Bek, who was sitting on his legs, to the floor. Suddenly Al turned on his heels and headed toward the entrance to the common room.

"Where do you think you're going Al?" James asked as his brother walked past him.

"To give Jessika Oppious hell for what she said to Bek," Al said.

"Um," James ran to catch up with Al. "I don't think so." He stirred Al back to his seat.

"What why?" Al asked. "Bek's my friend…"

"And she has no right to be treated that way, I know," James said. "But you can't just go 'give an Oppious hell' whenever you feel like it. One little red spark toward Jessika and her brother would ring you dry in a heartbeat." James said. Then he sighed. "Al, I need you to promise me you won't go after either the Oppious'."

"James…" Al complained. "I'm not a little kid…"

"You are to Oskar," Danaë said. "Al, James is right. It could go terribly wrong; Oskar and his friends wouldn't care if they hurt you."

"Albus," James said. He closed his eyes pensively and Al thought for a moment of how much his brother looked like his dad. "Promise me, please."

"I promise," Al huffed and crossed his arms.

"Thanks," James said, smiling and patting Al on the head. "That goes for all of you, you hear me?" the first years nodded. "Good, now, I'm going to shower," James said, remembering he had just gotten back from Quidditch.

"Me too," Danaë agreed.

"Together," Michael asked, still half asleep on the couch. James and Danaë looked at each other and blushed before turning back to Michael and yelling 'NO!'

After James and Danaë were gone, and Michael was back in dreamland, the eight first years looked at each other quietly.

"Well…" Terra said, clapping her hands together. "Some morning huh? Who's up for lunch?" They nodded and murmured in agreement and then all proceeded to head toward the Great hall, leaving Michael to finally sleep in the silence on the sofa.


	6. Just to See You Smile

**Author's note:** I wanted to get to know my three older kids, James, Danaë, and Michael for a little bit. I also wanted to touch upon Victorie. So that's what this little filler is for. I have a link on my profile that supposed to connect to images I made of the characters…but it's not working right about now… I'll let you know when it's fixed.

**Chapter Six:** Just To See You Smile

Al walked down stairs one late November day. He was trying to hide from Rose and Lizzy, who were both very keen on getting their friends completely studied and prepared for their exams before school let out for the holiday. Al was sure he was all studied out, and there was still a week before exams. He loved his cousin, and liked Lizzy a lot, but he knew that if they hounded him about studying for his Potions exam, of which he already knew he'd be dreadful, he was going to kill them.

A couple of people bickering by the fireplace caught Al's attention, and he looked over to see James and Michael talking in low voices.

"I know you like her…" Michael said quietly. "Just ask her."

"No, she's my _friend_. I don't like her that way." James responded.

"Liar," Michael said, sitting back and crossing his arms. "You know, I'm pretty sure she likes you back." James looked at Michael and then saw his little brother over Michael's shoulder.

"You know, it's pretty hard to take you seriously looking like that anyway," James teased. "Hey Al," he said, raising the volume in his voice. "What's up?

"It's not my fault I was born with midnight blue hair and not black like yours and Dan's…" Michael protested, and then he turned and saw Al. "Hey Albus, hold on, no fair trying to change the subject on me."

"Your fault for having such a boring subject." James said.

"It's not boring." Michael said. "Hey Al, what do you think about James asking out…ooff!" Michael didn't finish; James had tackled his best friend to the floor and put his hands over his mouth. Al chuckled at the two on the floor. Just then, Danaë walked down from the girls' dormitories. She saw James and Michael before they saw her, and she looked at Al with an amused look on her face.

"Hey Al," she said with a laugh. Her voice startled the two on the floor and they froze mid tackle and both turned to look at Danaë. James' ears had turned bright red, while Michael was now seconds away from uncontrollable laughter. "Hey boys," she added, her own face screwed up, trying not to laugh.

"He...Hey," James said sheepishly. He quickly jumped up and patted imaginary dirt from his robes and pointed at Michael. "He started it!"

"Did not!" Michael argued. "You're the one that accosted me!"

"How are you doing Al. Ready for exams?" Danaë asked.

"Yea, Rose and Lizzy have me studying all the time," al sighed. "Are you coming to our house for Holidays this year?" Al asked, but it was a stupid question. Danaë had been coming to their house for every break from school since James' first year.

"Of course, your mum just wrote to invite me," Danaë said. "And to check in on you two, since apparently you and James have fallen behind in keeping in touch at home. Tsk tsk, Al," Danaë giggled.

"Uh, we were just about to do that, weren't we James?" Al looked at his brother who nodded seriously.

"Yea, right…" Danaë said.

"No, really, come on James," Al stepped around Danaë and grabbed his brother, dragging him to the door. Once out of ear shot of Danaë and Michael, James sighed.

"Great, now we have to write a bloody letter…" he pouted.

"I could have left you back there," Al said. "You could show off your bright red ears to Danaë," Al teased and pinched his brother's ear.

"Ow! Hey!" James shoved at his brother. "I…I was embarrassed about how she found me and Michael," James said brushing at his clothes. "Don't want her to get the wrong idea, you know."

"Oh right, I doubt that would give her the "wrong idea"." Al said. "Now, the fact you haven't asked her out yet…"

"Albus!" James snatched at his brother. But Al was quick and he ran from his brother all the way to the Owlery, laughing loudly.

* * *

The Head's dorm was quiet that afternoon, exactly what Victorie needed. Her fellow Head boy, Marcus Donovan from Hufflepuff, was currently in his house common room hanging out with friends. Victorie waved him off so that she could study for her Transfiguration exam. And of course, when she needed a break from her studies, there was always the fact that she hadn't worked on Ravenclaw's Quidditch strategies either, and their first game back from Holiday was against Gryffindor. It must be the Weasley in her that made her so competitive, but she really wanted to beat James this year.

Victorie sighed and leaned back on her bed. This was all too much. What with it being her seventh year, all the extra classes she was taking, Quidditch, and her internship she was starting with Aunt Hermione at the MLE office over Christmas, she barely had enough time to write home occasionally, and that included Teddy.

Ted, her best friend from her entire life, who finally took some initiative and asked her out last June, was probably busier then she was. He was in Auror training with Uncle Harry, and she knew that the training was long and vigorous, especially for those fresh out of school like Teddy was. But busy or not, she missed her metamorphmagus, werewolf boyfriend. She didn't think her first year away at school without him would be this difficult.

Just then a snow white owl knocked on Victorie's window. She got up and it flew onto a perch that usually housed her own barn owl, but Jacquie was hunting right now. "Hello Moony," Victorie said. "What have you got for me?" She petted the owl affectionately and took the letter tied to its foot.

_Miss me? –T._

"That's it?" Vic asked the owl. I haven't seen or talked to him in how long? And this is it?" Victorie rolled her eyes and placed the letter on the table. She reached into her desk and pulled out some owl nibbles for Moony. "Here sweetie," she said. "So you have enough strength to go home to Teddy and inform him on how annoyed I am with his note." Moony just looked at Vic, and then turned its head toward the fire place. Just then, green flames erupted from her fireplace and out walked turquoise haired, tall and smiling Ted Lupin, and suddenly Vic wasn't so angry anymore.

"Teddy!" She squealed, running at him and hugging him tight. Teddy laughed and swung Victorie around twice before placing her back on the floor and kissing her nose. "What are you doing here?"

"I had a lunch break," Teddy said as he began to wipe soot off of his clothes. Course, he didn't mention that if Harry found out that he floo'd to Hogwarts, he's probably be in so much trouble that he'd be training for another year. "And I missed you." Teddy smiled, kissing Vic softly.

"I missed you too," Vic said. "Aren't you going to get in trouble?" She said.

"Of course," Teddy said. "But you know, I kind of have an in with the boss, and I haven't used it against him in a while so…" Teddy kissed her again.

"I don't want you to get in trouble," Victorie said, though she leaned into the kiss anyway. They were soon interrupted though by a slamming door. Marcus was back.

"Hey Vicki!" he called out and Victorie cringed at the nickname. "Did you do that Defense homework…mind if I borrowed it?" She heard him shuffling in the living space and knew he was going through her book bag.

"I don't like him," Teddy said. "Not one bit."

"Me neither, but I need to go stop him from going through my things…" Vic sighed. Maybe a bat-bogey hex would sort the head boy out; course, the head girl probably shouldn't be acting up like that.

"I need to go anyway," Teddy said. "Or Harry will get suspicious," Teddy kissed her again and the tips of his hair turned bubble-gum pink.

"Cute," Victorie said, hugging him one last time, "now go on, I'll see you at Christmas."

"At Christmas," Teddy agreed and he left through the fireplace.

"Marcus! Get out of my things!" Victorie said, storming out of her room and chasing after the Hufflepuff with her Defense Against the Dark Arts Essay in her hand.

Back in her room, Jacquie flew through the window and Moony scooted over so that the female owl could sit upon her perch. The two owls looked at each other and then Moony rested his head on Jacquie, who sighed contently.


	7. Holiday

**Author's Note:** Okay, this might sound a little dumb, but for visual use, I sort of pictured The Potter house like the house from Full House, the Malfoy manor is like the house from Charmed, and the Weasley house is sort of like the house from Rosanne, only more modern.

Forgive my television choices, that's just what I see when I'm writing here. Everyone else's house, you'll have to use some imagination. Ha Ha

I hope this REALLY long chapter is worth the wait, it was 37 pages on WORD!

This whole chapter is set in one day. **December 23, 2016.**

**Chapter Seven:** _Holiday_

Al relaxed on the couch in the living room, watching his mother and sister put up ornaments on the Christmas tree. James and Danaë were in the kitchen and his dad was still at work.

"Albus," his mother said. "Do you want to help Lily and me?" Al looked up and his sister was reaching up to place a rather large bauble on the tree.

"Sure," Al said. He hopped off the couch and helped Lily with the ordainment. The three of them continued to work until Teddy and Harry walked through the door.

"I just don't understand why you won't study for this test," Harry said, sounding frustrated.

"Because it's a test on disguising myself," Teddy said, refraining from laughter. "I'm pretty good at it already…" To prove his point, he squeezed his eyes shut and his turquoise hair grew out and turned black, his brown eyes became a deep green, and he grew a little taller. He looked like Harry without glasses, but the smirk was so very Teddy that it was easy to tell them apart. "Don't you think?" he asked. Harry rolled his eyes at his godson and Teddy turned back to normal.

"Hey boys," Ginny said from behind the tree. "Fun day at work?" Lily, who was also behind the tree, came running out and leaped into Harry's arms. Harry hoisted her up and kissed Lily's cheek, causing her to giggle.

"Hi Ginny," Teddy said. "Work was fine." He replied, taking Al's seat on the sofa.

"Just fine?" Ginny asked curiously.

"Yea well, boss can be a real jerk sometimes…" He said, and Harry smacked the back of his head, "Hey!" Childishly, Harry stuck out his tongue. Teddy laughed and jumped up again.

"Well I'm going to see Victorie." He smiled widely. Then with a nod, he turned on his heels and disapperated. Harry placed Lily back on the ground and walked over to the tree. Currently, only half of the tree had decoration on it, and it looked like it was about to fall. In Harry's eyes, it was perfect.

"I think he does," Lily announced, beginning to string popcorn on the tree. Lily often did this, only voicing the last parts of her thoughts so that the whole room was confused.

"You think who does what?" Al asked, looking confused. Lily looked at her brother, annoyed that she had to explain herself.

"I think that Teddy loves Victorie," Lily said as though it was obvious Harry and Ginny raised their eyebrows at each other; Ginny's eyes saying 'I told you so,' and Harry's eyes saying 'Bill's not going to like this.'

"Where's James?" Harry asked.

"In the kitchen with Danaë," Al answered, trying to fight a war against the tinsel that had clung to his sweater.

"I think they love each other too…" Lily said, but Al shushed her. Harry chuckled and went into the kitchen. James and Danaë were sitting at the table, heads close together, reading what looked like a Quidditch magazine.

"Hey you two," Harry said, but he was either ignored, or the two were too busy to notice him. He went to the refrigerator and poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice. The clinking of glass made Danaë look up.

"Hi Mr. Potter," she said sweetly. Harry smiled at her.

"Hello Danaë, when did you get here?" It had become accustomed that Danaë spent the holidays with them ever sense James' first year at Hogwarts. Harry was reminded of his own childhood, spending every holiday with the Weasley's because it was better than going to the Dursley's. Harry knew Danaë had the same reasons. She had grown up in a muggle orphanage, not knowing about being a witch until Professor McGonagall knocked on the door one day. When a young eleven year old James had come to Harry, explaining all this about his new best friend, Harry instantly had a soft spot for Danaë.

"Just this morning, but I left my school books on my desk, so we're going to go back and get them later," Danaë said. She and James would wait until it was less crowded at her place before heading over there. "And then when we come back we may drag Michael along." She added as a side note.

"That's good." Just then James realized that there was someone else in the room and he looked up at his dad.

"Hi Dad," James said. "Is Teddy here?"

"Just missed him," Harry said. "But your mother's working on the tree in there with Al and Lily, you should go help," Harry jerked his head toward the living room.

"Oh come on, it'll be fun," Danaë said as James began to pout. "Please James," she said.

James gave in to her pleading, and he and Danaë left the kitchen to help the others. Harry smirked as they left. His eldest really was a lot like Ron was when they were kids; really into Quidditch, food, and completely unaware that he was crazy about his best friend.

As if on cue with Harry's thoughts, Ron walked into the back door that connected their yard with the kitchen. He didn't acknowledge Harry and headed straight for the cupboard.

"Hi Ron," Harry laughed. Ron hardly came through the front door, seeing that the back door went straight to the kitchen. Ron looked up at Harry with a handful of crackers in hand. "I swear you raid my kitchen more than the boys," Harry said.

"Oh um," Ron raised his eyebrows a bit and bit his lip. "I was just in the neighborhood, thought I'd check in…"

"Ron, you're my neighbor," Harry chuckled. "Besides, I don't care. It's your sister who shoos you out and sends you home."

"There's no food at home though. Hermione is working late before she goes on holiday," Ron said, stuffing a cracker in his mouth.

"Why don't you cook then?" Harry suggested. Ron gave Harry a look of disbelief. "Right, never mind." Harry said. Ron couldn't cook if his life depended on it. "Just bring Rose and Hugo over here, Ginny always cooks extra." Ron nodded.

"Good plan," Ron said. The door between the kitchen and the living room began to open. Knowing it was probably Ginny, he looked back at Harry, who couldn't help but laugh.

"Best get out of here, Dinner is at 7," Harry said. Ron gave Harry a thumbs up and then sprinted out the back door and hopped over the bushes that separated his yard from the Potter's. Ginny walked into the kitchen, popcorn and tinsel in her hair, to find her husband chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Ginny ask, putting her hands on her hips. Harry though, only shook his head and walked toward his wife, pulling at the tinsel in her ginger hair.

"Who won?" Harry joked. "The Tree or the stockings?" Ginny raised an eyebrow at Harry. "What? You look like you just got out of a Christmas battle," Ginny rolled her eyes and playfully slapped his chest.

"Shut up," she said. "Lily got all excited and tripped on the popcorn bowl, running into James and the tinsel went all over the place and now the five of us that were out there look like we decorated ourselves instead of the tree." Harry laughed again and he peeked in the door to see the kids in the same state that Ginny was.

"Was that Ron that just jumped over the bush?" Ginny asked. "Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."

"Um, yea, I invited them for dinner, 'cause Hermione will be working late," Harry said, he knew Ginny wouldn't mind, and she nodded, confirming what he knew.

"Fine, then you're helping Mr. Potter," Ginny said. She threw him an apron and put her own on.

"Yes ma'm," Harry saluted, and then the two began to get to work.

* * *

Gage lay down on the floor of his father's office, throwing a quaffle that was in the corner of the room up and down as his dad worked at his desk. His father, Vincent Oliver, moved the family to London that previous summer when he was offered the editor-in-chief's position on the Daily Prophet. Memos were flying in and out and around Gage's father's head, the holiday season must be busy for the paper.

"That doesn't make any sense…" Mr. Oliver would say occasionally. "Gage, does this make sense?" Gage, who wasn't paying attention, looked over at his dad and promptly dropped the quaffle on his face.

"Oww," Gage said, grabbing his nose. "Does what make sense?" Vincent hardly looked up from his desk and handed Gage a tissue and a piece of paper.

"Read that and tell me if that makes sense to you, I don't know how many more of these I can read over…" Gage looked at his dad with a raised eyebrow for a moment, wondering if he even knew about Gage's problem with reading. But Mr. Oliver didn't correct himself, or apologize; he just went back to his desk work. Gage rolled his eyes and put the paper on the desk.

"Sounds great Pop," Gage said. Just then, an owl flew into the office and landed on the quaffle that Gage was playing with earlier. Gage looked at the bird curiously and unlatched a parcel from its ankle. His name was stamped across the top in bold blue letters. He was about to ask aloud about it when a memo smacked him in the head before going to his dad. Vincent grabbed it and read it over quickly before looking at Gage.

"Hey kiddo, can you run down to your mother's office and watch the twins for a minute, she has a meeting and I'm…"

"Swamped. Sure Pop," Gage said. He took the package and the owl and left the office, heading down the hall to his mother's office. "Ma?" Gage peeked in.

"Oh great, Gage, just watch the girls for a moment?" his mother, Eliza, said. She was running through her office and grabbing papers, the twins, 5 year olds Lennie and Luca, played on the floor next to her desk. "I have a meeting and than an interview with Oliver Wood and then…" she tripped over one of Lennie's toys. "And then I'm going to find your older brother and strangle him for backing out of babysitting today…" Gage smiled at his mother. When she finally had her things together, she kissed Gage on the cheek and then ran out the door.

"Gagey!" Luca said, realizing her brother was in the room. Lennie looked up at her brother and the girls batted their identical blue eyes from under their platinum blonde hair.

"Did'ja get a Christmas present early Gagey?" Luca asked.

"I dunno, I was about to open it," Gage said.

"I wanna read the card!" Lennie said, snatching it from Gage. Gage sighed and shook his head. His five year old sister's could read, but he couldn't read a lick.

"Dear Gage…" Lennie started. "I was tink…ing that you co…cold use these…charmed them to help you wif read…ing…" While Lennie was butchering the letter, Luca took the liberty to open Gage's gift. Inside was a pair of black, rectangular rimmed glasses.

"Someone got you glasses?" Luca asked confused. Gage took them from his sister and looked at them curiously before putting them on his face. Surprisingly enough, the glasses didn't affect his vision. Then what were they for? He listened to Lennie read the letter again. Help with his reading? Gage took the letter from his sister and looked at it. The words on the page jumbled around, making it easier for Gage to decipher what each word said. "No way…" he whispered.

_Dear Gage,_

_I was thinking that you could use these. I had my sister charm them to help you with your reading. Think of them as training wheels, only, instead of for a broom, they're for your eyes. We'll still work together on reading. I promised you I would. But at least now, you won't have to copy Mikael in potions class._

_Merry Christmas Gage!_

_Love Terra_

Gage nearly jumped for joy, he just read that whole letter! Before he knew it, his mother was running back into her office. "Hey sweetie," his mother said. "Logan is coming to get you and the girls in a half hour. Thanks for watching them." She looked up and tilted her head quizzically. "How long have you had glasses?" She asked. Gage chuckled. With five kids, it was difficult to keep track sometimes.

"Not long," Gage shook his head; he took them off and placed them in his pocket. "Reading glasses." He shrugged. His mother nodded and sat at her desk. "Hey Mom," Gage said. "Do I have to go with Logan, Lennie, and Luca?" He asked. "Cause I wanted to see someone," he pointed to the owl still with them. "Bring back their owl."

"Sure sweetie," Eliza said. "Be home by dinner though." Gage nodded and then headed toward the floo hallways, a skip in his step, Terra's owl flying behind him.

* * *

"Mikael is the table set?" Mikael's mother called out from the living room.

"Not yet Mum," Mikael replied. The house was noisy, and he was hiding in his room trying to read the assignment for his transfiguration homework. He sighed and shut the book, going to his side of the room and hiding it under his mattress with the rest of his school stuff he had brought home. There was really no point in hiding it though; he shared the bedroom with 4 other, younger brothers who were exceptionally skilled in finding hidden things. Mikael left the room and went down stairs, stepping over toys and backpacks and smaller siblings on his way to the kitchen. His mother, who was three months pregnant, was lying on the couch playing with Nicholas and Nicole, his two currently youngest siblings.

"Mickey, sweetie, what time is you friend coming?" His mother ask when Mikael walked by.

"I told Bek six thirty," Mikael replied. He had invited Bek and her mother over for dinner in light of the holidays. Mikael thought it'd be good to invite Bek, seeing that she was also muggleborn and it wouldn't freak out his family too much to have magic folk in the house.

"And it's just her and her mother?" his mother asked, Mikael nodded, knowing that it wouldn't of mattered to his mother how many people were coming, she loved having the house full, hence the large amount of siblings. "Good, well your father will be home around 6:30 as well and the pasta is almost done." Mikael nodded again. "See if one of your brothers or sisters can help you set the table." She said.

"Kay Mum," Mikael said. He entered the kitchen and pulled out the supplies needed to set the table when six year old Peyton came skipping into the room wearing a Santa hat and jingle bells on her ankles. Her long brown hair was braided, but her bangs covered her eyes. "Hiya Peyton," Mikael laughed at his little sister. "Want to help me with the table?" He asked, offering the placemats to her.

"Otay," Peyton said. She gave Mikael a wide smile and then skipped to the dining room, placemats in hand and jingling all the way. Mikael chuckled at his little sister and was about to follow when eight year old Tyler and five year old Damien came in.

"Hey big brother," Tyler said. He took the massive pile of plates and without another word, followed Peyton to the dining room.

"I wanna help too!" Damien said. Mikael laughed again and looked at the rest of the place ware.

"Okay Day…" Mikael said. He grabbed a pile of napkins and handed them to the smallish child. "Put one napkin on the left side of the plates, okay?" Damien nodded enthusiastically and then ran into the dining room yelling: "Hey Ty! What's the left?"

Mikael crossed his arms, confused. His siblings weren't normally this helpful, and, as the oldest, that meant Mikael was mostly responsible for the chores in the house. Just then, Philip came downstairs and tosses something toward Mikael. It was his bag of wizarding money.

"Sarah had it," the 10 year old said. "You gotta have a better place to find all your weird crap then under the mattress. Please, she's five and it was right in her eyesight…" Philip shoved one hand in his pocket and scratched the top of his head with the other, his short blonde hair hardly moving.

"Oh, thanks…" Mikael said awkwardly, shoving the money in his own pocket. Aside from his parents, Philip was the only one of his siblings that knew Mikael was a wizard. Needless to say, Phil hadn't taken it to well, calling Mikael a freak and not speaking to him at all until forced to say goodbye back on September 1st. The brother's now had an uncomfortable relationship with each other, but since there were 9 kids running around the house, with two on the way as well, there never was time to resolve anything between Mikael and Philip.

"They're trying to impress Santa Claus," Philip said, jerking his head toward the door. "All the little ones, from Tyler down, they've been like the perfect kids, its nuts…" He shook his head.

"What about Omar?" Mikael asked as he pulled out the correct amount of silverware. He gathered the spoons and handed them to Philip.

"Sort of on the fence about it, I think this year he'll figure it all out," Philip looked at the spoons his brother was handing him. "Hey, I don't need to be helpful. I don't believe in Santa putting me on some naughty list…" Mikael lowered his eyes at his brother. "Fine, fine," Philip said, taking the spoons. "You know, you look a hell of a lot like Dad when you do that," Philip said. "Almost scary a lot…" and Philip shook his head and went through the door. Mikael noticed that Philip had also taken the forks and knives as well, meaning that, since glasses were already in the dining room, he didn't have to do anything to set the table.

"Awesome," Mikael said, clapping his head together. He checked his watch. 6:15. Bek would be here soon.

* * *

Victorie was dressed warmly as she sat out on her porch at Shell Cottage. She watched the snow fall around her and curled up in the porch swing. Her parents and siblings went out to get a Christmas tree and Victorie was in charge of putting up Christmas lights. Thanks to turning of age last month, it only took Victorie about 15 minutes to decorate the house.

She heard a small pop, but when she turned around, she saw no one. Cautiously, Victorie reached for her wand. "Who's there?" she called out. No response. "Hey!" she yelled. Victorie didn't feel all high and mighty in her pink snow suit and her wand pointed out. She actually felt like the blonde girl in those scary movies that she watched; the one who always died first.

Suddenly out of nowhere, a snowball came out and hit the side of Victorie's arm. Startled, she screamed and ducked down. From under the porch swing, she heard a familiar laughing, but it was the turquoise hair that gave him away.

"Teddy!" Vic yelled, jumping up and throwing snowballs at him.

"Hey gorgeous," Teddy laughed, braving the snow flying from his girlfriend's wrath and running toward her picking her up and spinning her around. "Sorry to scare you."

"You better be." Vic said, still being held in the air by her boyfriend. "What are you so cheerful about?" she asked curiously.

"I missed you," Teddy said kissing her gently before placing her back on the porch. "I haven't seen you in a couple days…" he pouted. Vic nodded understandingly. Teddy was one of the first humans to inherit the werewolf gene, rather than get it though being bitten. Healers wanted to study him when he was younger, but thanks to Harry, that never happened. Three days ago had been full moon. Enough said.

"I missed you too," Vic said leaning in to kiss him back. She brought him inside where it was warmer and the two sat on the couch next to the fireplace. "I can't wait until I graduate Hogwarts, I hate being away from you for so long." She missed the days before school when she and Teddy would just play in the yard or go to the beach, or mess with Louis and Dominique.

"Have I ever seen what you really look like?" Vic asked curiously as she leaned into Teddy, wrapping his arms around her.

"Huh?" Teddy asked.

"I was just curious, I've known you all my life; but do you change your look, or were you born looking like this?" She tugged on his turquoise hair.

"Oh, um…" Teddy thought for a moment quietly. "Well I guess no, you haven't seen me…" he said, scratching the back of his head. "There isn't a big difference…" he said.

"But there is one?" Vic asked. Teddy nodded. "Can I see?" Teddy bit his lip.

"I dunno Victorie…" Teddy said. He wasn't very fond of his actual appearance.

"Please Teddy," Victorie pleaded. Teddy sighed.

"Okay, for you," He said, kissing the top of her head. He stood up in front of the fire place and closed his eyes. Victorie watched as his features morphed, and before she knew it, he opened his eyes and spread out his arms. "Ta-Da!" he smiled. He was the same height and body type; it was mostly his face that was different. Vic stood up and looked at Teddy. He had the black family blue eyes behind long lashes, and his turquoise hair was actually a sandy brown. He smiled to show white but slightly crooked teeth. Victorie had seen a picture of Teddy's parents when they were younger, and she'd have to say that her boyfriend was the spitting image of his father.

What struck Victorie the most though, were the scars that suddenly appeared on Teddy's skin. There were some on his face and his arms as well. "Teddy…" Victorie reached out and ran a finger along one on his face. He winced and Vic pulled her hand back, an apologetic look on her face. But Teddy smiled and took her hand in his.

"Don't worry, it's just new," He said. He kissed her hand. "What do you think?" he asked. He watched her look at him. She ran her hand through his hair and grinned; Teddy let out a breath.

"You're beautiful," She whispered. Teddy smiled and leaned forward to kiss Victorie.

"No Love," Teddy said his voice and even lower volume than hers. "You are."

* * *

Robert Anderson watched from his car as an unknown vehicle parked in front of his home. Out of the car came a young woman with long black hair and a white Christmas sweater and on the other side, a young girl, the same age as Robert's oldest child. The little girl had the same black hair as her mother, but it had streaks of red and green in her hair, Robert assumed for the Christmas holiday.

They must have been the guests that Mikael had invited. From his mysterious magic school. Robert had several children, and he loved them equally. If his oldest son was to be a wizard, Robert would support it.

He hopped out of his car and wrapped his coat around him. He reached the front door just as their guests made their way up the walkway.

"Hello," Robert said.

"Hi," Bek replied. She was outgoing and excited and Robert took her outstretched hand. "I'm Bek, this is my mother Madeline," She introduced her mother. Yesterday, Mikael had written Bek to warn her about his large family. Bek was excited about it though, she always wanted a lot of siblings, but it was just her and her mother. So the prospect of a day hanging out with Mikael and all his siblings was thrilling.

"Pleased to meet you Bek. I'm Robert, Mikael's father," he smiled. He shook Bek's hand and her mother's.

"Good, we thought we had the wrong house," Madeline said with a smile.

"Oh, you'll soon know which one is ours, come on in, before we all freeze." He opened the door. "Grace?" He called out, letting the Caldwell's in. "Mikael! Our company is here."

Mikael came from the kitchen. There was a strand of pasta in his hair that Bek was sure he didn't notice. "Bek!" Mikael exclaimed running over and hugging her. Bek laughed and hugged her back.

"Hey Mik, Happy Christmas." Bek smiled. She introduced her mother and her friend and then Mikael told his dad that dinner was done.

"Great, why don't you bring everyone to the table?" Robert said.

"Okay, come one Bek, Mrs. Caldwell…"

"Madeline is fine sweetie," Bek's mother said. Mikael nodded and he led them to the dining room, chuckling slightly. He didn't check the table after his siblings set it and it looked slightly ridiculous.

"Take a seat anywhere," Mikael said. Bek and Madeline sat and Mikael took a seat next to Bek. "Hold on tight," He joked as suddenly what sounded like a stampede was coming toward them. Suddenly the door burst open and Bek watched in amusement as a storm of children came hurrying in, followed slowly by Mikael's mother, and his father carrying the spaghetti.

"Wow that was crazy!" Bek said as excited chatter erupted around the table. She was in awe of the interaction that was going on. Most of the kids were very young, and Bek was entertained by the excitement over Santa Claus and Christmas gifts.

"Okay, how many siblings do you HAVE?" Bek asked Mikael. He laughed and wiped spaghetti sauce off his face.

"Eight," Mikael replied. "And my mom is pregnant again," he pointed over to his mother. "With twins, so after that, there'll be eleven." Bek dropped her fork, causing Mikael to laugh. ""Hey, you done?" Mikael asked as Bek polished off her plate. She nodded. "Kay, come on," Bek looked over to her mother, who was avidly enjoying a conversation with Mikael's parents. Mikael got up and left the table, and Bek followed him. They went up the stairs and turned to a bedroom that Bek assumed it was his.

"Where are we going?" Bek asked as she looked around the room. It actually looked like one of the dorms back at Hogwarts. "Who sleeps here?"

"Getting away from the insanity," Mikael answered. "And this is my room," He pointed toward a bed by the window. "And Philip's and Omar's and Tyler's and Damien's." Mikael laughed. "The girls sleep in the room next door and the twins are across the hall. Mom and Dad sleep downstairs."

"So you have no privacy, ever?" Bek asked, thinking that, even if he left his family to go to Hogwarts, he still was surrounded by the boys and others in Gryffindor tower.

"Not exactly," Mikael tossed her a jacket. "Come on, follow me." Bek did as she was told and followed Mikael, who climbed out the window onto the roof of his house.

"Mik, you're going to fall," Bek said, but that didn't stop her from following after him. Outside the Anderson home, it was snowing. Their roof was a thick powdery white and Bek and Mikael did everything they could to keep from slipping off.

"Welcome to my oasis," Mikael said. "None of the others can get up here." He sat on the top of the roof and Bek followed.

"It's so cool up here," Bek said, sitting in the snow and looking up at the sky.

"It's _quiet_ up here," Mikael pointed out. "I learned I was a wizard up here." Mikael said. Bek turned her head to him, a look of question on her face. "It was last April, a couple weeks before my eleventh birthday," he laughed a little. "I slipped off and it's a two story drop, but I landed smoothly, didn't hurt myself at all." Bek raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. The two friends sat quietly and watched the sky. Snow had begun to fall again and Bek shivered slightly.

"I was nine…almost ten and I was running away from some bully at school who was making fun of my hair." She tugged one of her green strands of hair that she had done for the holidays. "I had dyed most of it blonde, not a good phase for me," she giggled. "Anyway, I was running and all the sudden, I was home." She looked back at Mikael. "Like, I entered the girl's bathroom and ended up running into my living room." She giggled again at the memory of shock that crossed her mother's face.

"Best day of my life," Mikael said.

"Me too," Bek replied. They watched the sky again for a bit before Bek looked over the slopped edge of the house to a pile of snow on the ground. A mischievous smile crossed her face and a look of worry crossed Mikael's.

"That look has gotten us into nothing but trouble Bek," Mikael said.

"You said it was two stories down right?" she asked. Mikael nodded. "Okay, come on."

"Come on what?" Mikael asked.

"We're sliding down," Mikael's face paled and the few freckles on his face stood out.

"No we're not," But Bek had already looped her arm in his.

"Ready?" Mikael shook his head. "Set…"

"Rebecca, I'm telling you, bad idea!"

"Go!"

* * *

Lizzy got out of her mother's car and brushed imaginary dust off the skirt of her black dress. "Thanks Mum," Lizzy said. "Pick me up later?"

"At 8," Victoria Torrance waved to her daughter and drove off. Lizzy brushed her long red hair over her shoulder before making her way to the front door of the Longbottom home. She knocked twice and then stepped back. There were blue radishes hanging on the door handle and Lizzy looked at them curiously until the door swung open and Terra's older brother, Frankie, a sixth year Hufflepuff, greeted her with a smile.

"Hi Frankie," Lizzy smiled.

"Hey Torrance," Terra just assumed it was a phase that Frankie was going through, calling all non-family members by their last name, and she told Lizzy not to take offence. "Come on in," He held the door open and pointed up the stairs to where Terra's room was. With a quick thanks, Lizzy slipped out of her shoes and left them by the door before running up the stairs. She stepped onto the second floor landing and realized that she didn't know which room was Terra's. The first door she passed, the doorknob shocked her.

"Ow!" Lizzy jumped back.

"Oh, hey," Terra appeared from around the corner of the hall. "Sorry, didn't know you were here." The petite blonde girl skipped over and hugged Lizzy. "That's Frankie's room. Super private, no humans allowed," Terra held up her hands. "Just nargles and woz-naps," Lizzy was about to ask what nargles and woz-naps were, but she thought against it and kept her mouth shut. Terra occasionally would go on weird dreamy tangents about made up or freaky creatures that controlled destiny or tied shoelaces together in the middle of the night. Lizzy did the best she could to keep those random stories to a minimum, since they could get pretty weird.

"That over there is Alice's room," She pointed down the hall a bit to the neighboring room. Smoke was coming out from under the door.

"Is everything okay in there?" Lizzy asked Terra.

"Yea, she's fine. She graduated Hogwarts last year and now she works with experimental potions at St. Mungo's." Terra shook her head. "One time, she accidentally turned the whole house blue! Blue house, blue window, blue family…da ba deed a ba die…" They passed the smokey room and Terra non-chalantly pointed out her parents' room.

"Where's your room?" Lizzy asked, realizing they reached the end of the hall and there were no more doors. Terra smiled and pointed up before saying "Open." Magically, a staircase made its way from the ceiling to the floor, right in front of Terra's feet. Lizzy's face must have shown her astonishment because the next thing Terra said was "I know cool right?" She led Lizzy up the stairs, lazily saying "close" once they reached the top.

"Better than cool," Lizzy replied. The room must have once been an observatory at one point. Terra's ceiling was magicked the same way the ceiling at the great hall was. The sky-like ceiling then moved to a dark yellow walls and dark brown hardwood floors covered where the stairs once were. There were flowers in each corner of the room, all in exotic colors that Lizzy was sure she had never seen before. And then Lizzy turned toward her bed, where to her surprise, Gage Oliver was sitting with a wide smile.

"Gage!" Lizzy ran over to their friend and hugged him.

"Hey Liz, Happy Holidays," Gage said hugging the red head back. "Sorry I didn't mean to butt in on your visit with Terra, I just wanted to drop by," Gage said sheepishly.

"Oh no, it's fine," Lizzy said, hugging him again as she took a seat next to him on the bed. "I've missed you guys, have you seen anyone else since school got out?" Lizzy asked, sitting Indian style on Terra's bed so that the owner of said bed had room to sit.

"I went with my dad when he and Al's dad and Rose's dad and their other Hogwarts dorm mates went out for some annual Christmas tradition thing, so I saw them for a bit." Terra said. She sat on the bed and pulled her long blonde braid over her shoulder. "How about you Gage?"

"Um," Gage thought for a minute. "Mostly just letters. I saw Scorpius for a fraction of a second in the Ministry, but you know, I think he was avoiding me…"

"It's not your fault; it's the Malfoy thing he's stuck with…" Lizzy said, playing with one of her fingernails. She looked up to have two curious faces looking at her. "Scorpius' parents think that he's in Slytherin, because Malfoy's are always in Slytherin."

"He never told them otherwise?" Gage asked.

"I don't blame him." Terra said. "Poor kid, my dad went to school with his dad, apparently he's a right old…"

"Terra Lynn!" One of the neon pink flowers in the far corner of the room started shouting. "Bring your friends down to dinner, sweet daughter of mine."

"Oops!" Terra said, jumping off the bed, Lizzy and Gage after her. "I forgot about dinner," they hurried down stairs, Gage tripped on the last few steps. Terra's father was in the living room, and the kids noticed he must have just walked in the door.

"You're going to get in trouble mister," Terra teased her father. Neville hushed his youngest, but to no avail. In walked Terra's mother, Luna Longbottom.

"You all are late," Luna said. Since marrying Neville and becoming a mother three times, Luna had in a since, grounded more to reality. "But since its Christmas, we'll just say it was the hollypolks that made you late and leave it at that. Leave it to them to play with the clocks when you both weren't looking." Okay, so she wasn't grounded to reality, just hovering over it. She had the same large eyes and blonde hair that Terra had, but her's weren't brown like Terra's, but a deep blue. She then noticed the three kids and smiled.

"You two must be Terra's classmates?" she asked, looking to Neville for conformation.

"Mum, these are Lizzy Torrance and Gage Oliver, both in my house," Terra said, introducing them. "Lizzy's staying for dinner if that's still okay." Luna nodded then looked to Gage.

"You're not?" she asked simply. Gage shook his head, but he found he couldn't look straight at Mrs. Longbottom's eyes, so he opted to look at Terra's father instead.

"No, I promised I'd be home for dinner, maybe next time?" Gage said.

"Anytime Gage," Neville said, as he moved to the fire place to grab the floo powder.

Gage said goodbye to the girls, hugging them tightly. "Thank you for the glasses, Terra," Gage said, hugging her for a little longer. "Best gift ever."

"Merry Christmas Gaget," Terra said, and the two girls waved as he flooed off home.

"Glasses?" Neville asked curiously. "You got him glasses for Christmas?" Terra nodded. "Strange, so can I just get you socks then?" Terra laughed and she led Lizzy into the kitchen for dinner, discussing why no one should get socks for Christmas.

* * *

"Ellipsis!" Scorpius groaned in annoyance. "Get out of my room!" He slammed his quill down on his desk and turned his desk chair to face his 10 year old sister.

"But I'm bored!" Ellipsis whined, her bleach blonde bangs falling over her steel grey eyes. "Let's do something fun!"

"I'm doing homework Lippi…" Scorpius said, watching his sister scowl at her least favorite nickname. "Go find Mum and Dad and hang out with them."

"Adults are boring," Ellipsis said. "What kind of homework are you doing?" she walked over to Scorpius' desk and peeked at his book.

"Transfiguration," Scorpius frowned, closing his book and turning back to his sister. "Why don't you go find Squattle?"

"House elves are boring too…" she sighed. Scorpius say back and watched at the pigtails in his sister's hair drooped slightly as she wandered his room curiously.

"What _doesn't_ bore you Lippi?" Scorpius asked.

"Hogwarts!" she said excitedly. "And magic," she added, running across the room and jumping onto Scorpius' bed. "I love magic."

"Well, good thing you're a pure blood," Scorpius said somewhat bitterly. "You've seen magic done your whole life."

"Yea, unlike dumb mudbloods, they don't get to see any…"

"Don't say that!" Scorpius cringed.

"But they don't…" Ellipsis looked confused.

"No," Scorpius took a breath; he didn't want to yell at a ten year old. "Don't say _Mudblood_, its foul."

"But Daddy says it all the time…"

"Dad's an adult," Scorpius said. "When you're an adult, you can say whatever you want," Ellipsis pouted. "But you're still a kid, so don't say Mudblood."

"Okay Scorpius," she said, falling back onto the bed. Scorpius assumed that was that and turned back to his book. He had just found the right page when Ellipsis spoke up again. "But why?" Scorpius groaned.

"Well," he thought. "It's rude, and it makes muggle borns feel bad. It's like…like…" Scorpius tried to think of an example.

"Like when you call me 'Lippi'," Ellipsis said, sitting up and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well what do you expect me to call you?" Scorpius asked with a chuckle.

"What do you expect me to call mudbloods?" Ellipsis countered and Scorpius just had to laugh.

"I expect you to call them muggle born."

"I expect you to call me Ellipsis." She said, sticking her chin up. "I like my name."

"Lippi," she scowled. "Ellipsis," Scorpius corrected himself. "No one in the Malfoy family can possibly _like_ their name." he thought of his own name. Scorpius Lucius Malfoy. He was named after some unknown star and/or a poisonous insect, his death eater of a grandfather, and a Malfoy, a name that was almost feared in the wizarding world.

"Ellipsis Alexandria Malfoy," Ellipsis pulled her brother out of his thoughts. "It's pretty."

"Okay Lip," Scorpius said, shaking his head. Ellipsis jumped down off the bed and walked back to her brother.

"I'm bored," she announced.

"And we have now come full circle." Scorpius laughed.

"Bye!" and she ran out the door. Scorpius shook his head and turned back to his homework to find his paper missing.

"Ellipsis!" he called. Then he ran out to the hall after his sister.

* * *

Michael Bertolli sat on the couch, flipping through the channels on the television when his mother came in wearing yellow latex gloves and a flowery apron. Michael, in all his almost fifteen years, had never seen his mother super-cleaning the way she was now.

"Mum," Michael said. She seemed to not hear him, and continued wiping fingerprints off of the glass coffee table. "Bernadette!" His mother froze and stood up. "Sorry Mum, but really, is this necessary? It's just Loraine…"

"We haven't seen your sister in three years Michael," Bernadette said, shoving her son's feet off the now clean table. "I just want the place to be nice when she gets here." It was true that Loraine Bertolli has completely disappeared off the face of the earth three years ago after Michael's father was killed in a car accident. She was sixteen when she left, and all Michael or his mother ever received to know she was alive was occasional letters asking for money.

"But do we even want her to come back?" Michael asked quietly. His mother shot him a glare. "I mean, she probably just needs money and can't afford postage stamps or an owl…" He wasn't sure she could apperate; Loraine never finished school at Hogwarts.

"She's family Michael, and that's the last you'll speak your mind today." She scolded just as the doorbell rang. Both of them froze, watching the front door.

"I guess I'll get it," Michael said, jumping up from the seat and heading to the door. He opened it wide and couldn't help, in spite of the bitter feelings, smiling at his sister. Loraine had always been beautiful. She had the same midnight blue hair that Michael had, only, instead of short and spiky like his, Loraine's flowed smoothly all the way to the small of her back. Her bright blue eyes had specks of copper in them, and her skin didn't have a single mark, blemish, or freckle on it. But Michael wasn't looking at his sister after opening the door, his eyes followed to her arms, which was holding a small pink blanket.

"What's that?" Michael said in astonishment.

"Honestly Mike," Loraine said in annoyance. "It's been what, three years and the first thing you can say to your big sister is 'what's that?'"

"Is that a…baby?" Michael asked, basically ignoring his sister until her jaw dropped.

"Yea, it is. You going to let your sister and your niece stand out her in the cold or are you going to let us in?" Michael, astonished, stepped aside and let them in.

"Loraine!" His mother ran across the room and hugged Loraine tight.

"Hi Mum, careful," she warned. "You'll squish her." Bernadette stepped back and realized the baby in her daughter's arms.

"Her...?" Bernadette questioned.

"Yes. Okay you two; I'd like you to meet my daughter, Anita." She held out the sleeping baby and Michael watched his mother carefully cradle her in her arms. "She three months old, very healthy, has blonde hair, and the most _amazing_ blue eyes in the world." As if on cue, Baby Anita began to fuss and open her eyes, her big baby blues settling right on Michael.

"Oh hi," he said, feeling awkward.

"Mike, you want to hold her?" Loraine asked. Michael looked from his mother to his sister to the baby with a face of worry. "Don't worry, you'll be fine…" She had Michael sit in the chair in the living room and them his mother handed him his niece.

She was so small and helpless and Michael couldn't help but instantly love her. "Hey Anita," he smiled at her, putting his finger in her tiny hand.

"Oh how cute," Loraine said. She watched Michael for a moment before she asked if she could talk to her mother in the kitchen. They left him alone with Anita and he began to feel anxious again.

"Um…" what should he say? He already said 'hi' twice. "I'm your Uncle Michael," he said with a smile. He slowly moved his hand from hers to her hair. Anita had a few soft wisps of golden blonde hair, nothing like that of Michael and Loraine's. "You lucky thing, blonde hair is so much more manageable than dark blue." He chuckled, rocking her a little bit.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, but while he did, Anita never made a fuss. Eventually, she even went to sleep, snoring lightly into Michael's chest. It was then that he heard someone else in the room and looked up to see his mother standing in the doorway, a couple tears dropping down her face.

"Mum?" Michael said.

"Loraine left…" she said, brushing it aside like it was normal. Well, it was, but Michael looked down at the baby in his arms.

"Well, she'll be back, she forgot…" but he knew. He knew as he was saying it that Anita was why his sister had come back. She didn't want her baby. Having a baby meant being tied down, stop having fun, and Loraine was not a tied down type of girl. "Mum, she didn't."

"It was her plan all along," she said, sitting next to her son and stretching out her arms. "Can I?" Michael nodded and handed his niece to his mother. He watched as Bernadette cooed over the small child, humming and whispering to her. It was a while before she said anything to Michael.

"Loraine wants you to raise Anita," She said, looking at her son with glossy eyes. "That's what she wanted to talk t me about. She asked that if I'd help out while you were at school, then you could take care of her after you graduate." Michael was glad he wasn't holding Anita anymore, because he would have dropped her.

"M…Me? Raise…raise a baby?" he asked. His mother nodded. He looked at Anita. Poor girl, having his sister for a mother. "Well, what do you think?" Michael asked her. The baby did nothing but make a small hiccup in her sleep. "Guess we're going for it." He said. Michael all of the sudden felt this new need to be more accomplished. He thought of the homework upstairs that hadn't been done, and how he was failing history of magic. It was then that he decided that he needed to be the best student he could possibly be, and get a good job right after if he was going to commit to raising his niece.

"I'm looking forward to it," Michael said, leaning his head on his mother's shoulder and softly running a finger along Anita's hand. "Call it a new adventure."

* * *

Rose went over to the Potter house early to hang out with the others before dinner. She quickly passed by her aunt and uncle without a word and entered the living room. Her cousins (and Danaë) were all lying on the floor, the tree half decorated, and there was popcorn, tinsel, and Christmas lights all over the place, tangled through the kids on the floor.

"What the hell happened here?" Rose chuckled; it wasn't until her little brother, Hugo, had run in and asked the same thing that anyone responded.

"Christmas battle," Al said, sitting up and shoving Lily off his lap.

"Auntie Ginny is going to have a heart attack," Hugo shook his head. "I know Mum would have if Rose and I had done this…"

"Which is why you're the good kids," said James. "And we're the trouble makers."

"But since you're in our house," Al said, getting up with the half empty bowl of popcorn. He walked over to Rose and Hugo and smiled. "Best fit the part then." He chuckled and poured the rest of the contents on his cousins' head. Rose's jaw dropped. He didn't seriously just do that?! Rose had her mother's hair; it would take hours to get it out!

"Albus Potter!" Al laughed, but he was smart enough to know to turn and run. Rose chased after him, out the front door, tripping through the snow and around the house to the back yard. Quickly, Al ran through the back door to his kitchen, just before Ron and Hermione.

"Hi Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione," Al waved quickly as he ran up the stairs.

"Hi Mum, hi Dad," Rose said, nearly knocking her mother over as she followed Al. In less than three seconds, the kitchen had gone from whirlwind to silent, the only trace of Al and Rose being the trail of tinsel and snow and popcorn kernels that now followed the two first years.

"Aw, family," Hermione couldn't help but giggle at the kids. Soon enough, as the event had sunken in, Ron, Harry and Ginny were cracking up too.

Yup, just your average Holiday at Godric's Hollow.


End file.
